Casa Chappell

keeping busy at home: San Diego County Fair

2011-07-22T17:00:00.000-07:00

This is a little late, but 4th of July weekend was the last weekend of the San Diego County Fair in Del Mar. Eric's mom and brother Ryan and I went on the morning of the 4th in hopes we would beat the crowds (which we mostly did).

tried the hyped up fried koolaid (basically koolaid flavored dough) Really disappointing.
and these Australian fried potatoes

We checked out scottish dancers

and pig races

the garden show was my favorite part. Lots of pretty flowers and displays of succulents

While it was a fun morning, I have to say I much prefer the smaller scale county fairs in IL!

Lake Garda

2011-07-06T15:59:00.000-07:00

Two years ago, when we were planning our honeymoon I had on the top of my list to visit the Cinque Terre, five coastal cities on the Italian Riviera, connected by a rocky path with a gorgeous view. When we attempted to spend a day here on our honeymoon, our plan was foiled due to a train derailment and repairs leaving only a couple of hours in Riomaggiore (no time for the hike). I was really disappointed, but E promised to take me back.

So, when we knew we were going to Italy for this summer and would have one day off a week, I was really hoping we could get there. A neighbor who is also in the English class asked if we wanted to spend a day with them so they could practice English, and they would drive wherever we wanted to hike! We immediately suggested the Cinque Terre, and made plans to go in our last week.

Unfortunately the night before we were supposed to leave they phoned us that their teenage daughter was hospitalized with bronchitis and they had to stay home....

Strike two for Cinque Terre.

Instead, the Ferarris suggested we visit Lake Garda, the easternmost of the three large lakes in the Lombardy region north of Milan. Without other options or energy to plan, we booked train tickets and took off the next morning.

photo credit

We took a train to the southern central portion of the lake, Peschiera del Garda.

(there is an old military fortress here, picture below)

monument to fallen soldiers

After wandering around the town and the marina, we decided to rent bikes and ride to Sirmione - a beautiful little town on a peninsula in Lake Garda that we stopped at on our honeymoon, and we could resist visiting again.

I would recommend this bike ride to anyone and everyone. (You can see on the map where Peschiera is and then out to the peninsula of Sirmione.) It's about 7K of biking, and was the most relaxing gorgeous bike ride - on the lake front going through sleepy towns. we loved it.

the views needed no enhancement.

We'd decided at this point in our trip (based on the fact that we were eating so well with the families in Milan), that we weren't going to spend our limited funds going out to eat. So on our bike ride we stopped in a local market and picked up beer, bread, meat, cheese, fruit and chocolate for lunch (spent less than €10!)

dipped our toes in the water and enjoyed this view.

Sirmione is gelato central, with a shop every where you look. We may or may not have had two servings while in Sirmione. :-)

Check out the size and the amount of flavors at this shop!

We decided to make it our life goal to come back and stay in the Palace Hotel Villa Cortine.

We were so glad we came back to visit Sirmione.

Girls’ Night Out: Italy Style

2011-06-27T13:38:00.000-07:00

On the last Saturday of each month the men and the women of the church takes turns going for a night out to fellowship and eat.

This past Saturday was the girls turn, and we met for bowling and pizza.

It was so natural and I was struck again that I was so far from home – it felt just like a regular girl’s night out! [Despite the language barrier…but that’s for another post] There was chatting, laughing, cheering, consoling, and encouraging.

All the women of the church means all – babies included!

Martina -- Vittorio's daughter, with Giulia, Alisia's daughter.

In Italy, the way they eat pizza seems really different from ordering pizza in the US. Here, they only have one size (about 14” in diameter?), there are about 50 different varieties, and everyone orders (and eats!) an entire pizza themselves!

Thankfully I got some good advice and menu translation and loved my pizza, Sfiziosa (sausage, mushroom, mozzarella, gorgonzola—like nothing you’ve had before)

It was a delightful evening.

(a gelato cake from Calabria)

Anniversary party

2011-06-26T05:11:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday, Eric preached for the first time. He's spending the summer preaching through the epistle of Colossians and started with an introductory sermon to the whole book preaching from Col.. 1:1-2, and then in the evening on Col 1:3-14 with the topic of Gospel-Empowered Growth.

Things with translating went really well -- although the service lasts at least 1.5 hours because translating is so time-consuming (and the Italian language almost always requires more words than English).

I snapped a couple photos during the introduction in the morning so you can get a feel for what it looks like during the sermons

When we walked into church for the Sunday evening service, this is what we saw... the church surprised us with an anniversary party!

Two ladies in the church particularly put a LOT of work into this event: Sabrina and Daniela. (They are sisters - Sabrina is married to Tony, the deacon. Daniela is married to Vittorio, one of the elders)

They're such generous hostesses!

After the evening service, we had food: rice salads, fritters, a type of quiche, cheese and ham rolls, etc

Cristina helping prepare the food

Eric enjoying fellowship with the men

The decor was beautiful, complete with a huge bouquet, signs, streamers, and balloons

Then, a beautiful cake! (and champagne)

We were also gifted an exclusive 2011 espresso set from a well-known company in Italy, Thun.

Vi ringrazio per il vostro affetto! We are so grateful for your generosity and kindness!

Visit to Venice

2011-06-25T05:10:00.000-07:00

We got an extended day off this week as it was our anniversary
[and I am only here for one more week :-(]

So we headed to Venezia!

Pastor Andrea recommended that we book a night at Hotel Noemi, which was a nice hotel with a great location, just a 1 minute walk from St. Mark's Square.

We didn't make any plans, or see almost any of the sites we felt compelled to last time, just wandered the streets and canals.

Instead of going out to eat (you've seen the amazing food we've already gotten to eat), we decided to picnic while here. We had lunch with this view, and ate dinner at sunset on the mail canal [I forgot my camera!]

Accademia bridge

Eric was in his element: gelato 2+ times a day, a kebab, and we even found Coke Zero!

We headed to the west side of Venice, a place we didn't get to explore on our honeymoon and found some really quiet and sweet neighborhoods, as well as a beautiful public park!

Thanks for a lovely getaway, Venice.

breakfast

2011-06-23T09:00:00.000-07:00

Italians don't eat much for breakfast. After you've seen what kind of a dinners we've eaten, you won't be surprised that our breakfast habits are lightening up. Usually its caffe and a small sweet, like cake or a croissant.

First, some caffe latte.

Italian style caffe is much more like espresso than American coffee. I love this stove top espresso maker and plan to bring one home for us.

I've been picking up fresh milk from a latteria every week. (a post on Italian grocery shopping is to come!)

Whisk the milk on low heat until scalding.

The coffee is ready after a minute of percolating.

Pour coffee, sugar, and then milk and stir.

Pastor Ferrari's mom, Ivanna (or Nonna - grandma) made us this dolce (cake) for breakfast the other day.

It was very thick and moist, and had pinenuts and grapes inside.

breakfast is best enjoyed on the patio with a good book!

Hospitality & Cucina Italiana

2011-06-22T12:42:00.000-07:00

We've experienced wonderful hospitality from the congregation of Filadelfia church. The food has been incredible and the fellowship delightful.

Our first Saturday we had dinner with the Calderaros. Daniela cooked us a feast!
(Vittorio is an elder, and their two daughters, Erika and Martina)

Antipasti of meats, cheeses, veggies, and breads

Insalada di mari

salmon roll for secondo

and for dessert, fruit & espresso

and then, gelato!

You already saw photos of our Sunday fellowship meal.

We have enjoyed many dinners with the Ferrari's, although I've only taken photos of one. Here is a traditional summer feast which Christina allowed me to help prepare.

(I love this photo of Christina!)

Pastor and intern chat before dinner

Prosciutto crudo e melon

Caprese

This is one of Simone's favorite meals -- he is an enthusiastic eater.

then, formaggio (cheese!)

The following Friday we were invited for dinner at the Sr. Calderaros: Giuseppe and Crocifissa.
Vittorio's family joined us at his parents, as well as the Ferraris and we had a fabulous time at a traditional Italian meal. Endless food, delicious wine, and loud talking over each other all night! :-)

primi - pasta was SO good. (Here Vittorio is showing Eric to add more olive oil to the pasta0

secondo: meatballs with a hardboiled egg and ham inside!

also, a very delicious beef in gravy and some Italian potato salad

Ivanna (Pastor F's mom) passing the formaggio around

insalada comes after dinner

Crocifissa e Christina

fruit!

even though we couldn't understand a word he said, Giuseppe entertained us all night.

peanut cake by Christina

the group. I was laughing so hard, I didn't notice Eric got cut off in the picture. Erika jumped in front of Daniele, and half the people weren't looking!

And this past Saturday we were invited over to the Altobellis. Mimo is the other elder in the church and is a very funny guy.

see that crazy cheese with the colored toppings? It's made from sheep milk and is the consistency of cream cheese, but MUCH better. topped with black pepper, chives, olives and red pepper.

Mimo and his wife Rosanna made us Neapolitan (Naples-style) pizza which was AMAZING. They also overfed us.

Tiramisu and Rosanna's homemade creme de limoncello (YUM)

in between laughing, Eric and Mimo talked theology.

Thank you Altobelli's!

Nom, nom, nom. We [and our bellies] are loving Italy!

two years of marriage.

2011-06-19T06:23:00.000-07:00

due anni con mi amore.

la vita e dolce.

(for a few more anniversary photos, click here)

Lake Como

2011-06-18T05:14:00.000-07:00

Tuesday we took our first 'day off' to explore Italy in the first week we were here. We kept it a little closer and headed about an hour north of Milan to Lake Como.

(my first time attempting photostitch. It's not perfect, but it gives you an idea of the view)

Before we left, I didn't know much about the Lake, what there was to see or do, or how long we'd want to spend there. We just hopped on the train to see what we could find!

A rapid service ferry took us to the town of Bellagio, at the mid point of the lake. Its one of the larger lakeside towns to visit.

Needless to say, it is charming and the views were stunning. The lake is surrounded by mountains on both sides. We were there at the prime time so the weather was just gorgeous (but it was also not too busy on a weekday).

Here's a panorama video of what we were enjoying:

We ate pasta and seafood on the lakefront overlooking the water

and then went for a stroll

The day was too short, but it was certainly lovely.

(also for those wondering...the ferry did not take us past George Clooney's Lake Como home, sadly)

La Chiesa e La Communione (The Church and Fellowship)

2011-06-16T10:00:00.000-07:00

We had our first weekend full of church events. At a prayer meeting on Thursday we met a good portion of the congregation and were a little overwhelmed with everything (an hour of prayer in language we didn’t know!), but everyone was very welcoming and friendly.

Saturday afternoon was our first English class. This week was an introduction to the class, so Eric and I talked about ourselves in autobiographical form for about an hour and then took questions. We chatted with Pastor Ferrari afterwards about how things went and feel a little better prepared to tackle a prepared lesson from a book this weekend.

There is a broad range of English knowledge among the students and it’s hard to know what vocabulary is new and unfamiliar, so we’ll try to stop often to ask questions to see if everyone is tracking.

the sanctuary

Eric was given the first Sunday to adjust and get a feel for the church service before preaching. We would have been totally lost in the service except there is one member who is from the UK (Moved as a 6 year old to Italy) and knew English well enough to translate some points through notes. I’m really looking forward to this Sunday and hearing the sermon in English! (with Pastor Ferrari translating)

After church we had a fellowship meal where we had the traditional Italian fare of a primi dish (usually pasta), then secondo (meat) and salad, then dessert.

The style was a little different than what we’re used to in the US. Instead of all the dishes being laid out pot-luck style, each family served their own dish to each family member. Then if there were leftovers, they were passed around the table to share. Eric and I, as the newbies, were offered just about every single dish and ate waaay too much. We slept it off in the afternoon before returning to church in the evening.

We had a wonderful time fellowshipping with the church members and hope to get to know many of them better in their homes for dinner in the upcoming weeks.

Our digs

2011-06-12T12:21:00.000-07:00

I wanted to take a video tour of the apartment, but haven't gotten there yet. Here are some of photos of our little place in Bollate that I took our first day here. We live in the downtown area, across from an Italian shoe store and just a half block from one of the four local Gelaterias. :-)

The study/our closet

main room which serves as bedroom, living room, dining room and kitchen

Our place is about a 12 minute walk from the pastor's place, so we have taken advantage of the small calorie burn we get from that walk before and after dinner, but compared the amount we've been eating, it's not making a dent.

our front patio.

Tomorrow we are heading to Lake Como as our 'day away', so I'll share that and some photos of our first Sunday later this week.

Here!

2011-06-08T11:03:00.000-07:00

Buon Giorno!

We have arrived safely, albeit tired, in Bollate – a northern suburb of Milan – where the Ferraris live.

Our apartment is wonderful! It’s a one-bedroom flat, but the bedroom serving as the study and our closet. The main room of the apartment is studio style with our bed (a fold out couch), a table, and kitchen (which came stocked with groceries, thanks to pastor’s wife, Christina) We share both rooms with lots of books (Pastor F has over 8,000!).

Some highlights, bullet-style

my first cooking experience in Milan. It took hours to air out the apartment. (In my defense, the toaster didn't automatically pop the bread up!) As Eric and I were have a frustrated discussion about it, we started violently waving towels around to get rid of the smoke, then promptly burst out laughing.
first thing googled: “How to use a bedet”
attempted to figure out internet using a pin drive with limited access (10 gb a month). We now know how much internet memory is used for each of our everyday. Limiting email refreshes, streaming and blogging unless we find a better solution.
thunder so loud I jumped in my chair at the table. It has been almost non-stop raining the past 36 hours.

Speaking of thunder, here’s a little video of today’s rain from our patio.

It’s nearly dinner time. Buona Sera from Bollate!

baci e abbracci,
Eric and Katie
(eh-reek and keh-ee-tee)

Arrivederci!

2011-05-31T08:40:00.000-07:00

Well, the week is upon us! Eric and I leave on Thursday for NYC where we'll spend 4 days vacationing. Monday night we leave for Milan, arriving in the morning on Tuesday.
We'll be staying in a small apartment within walking distance of the pastor's family's house, which is in a suburb of Milan, about 25 minutes outside of the city. I have no idea how big it is, what the furnishing is like, and what we'll have - so it definitely feels like an adventure!

I've packed enough clothes for 30 days in one duffel bag. It feels like a massive accomplishment. Paring down to five pairs of shoes was a bit painful. Eric's hopefully spending today picking up his altered suit (wahoo weight loss!) and starting his packing.

Eric and I have started an introductory audio Italian course with Pimsleur to get a few words and phrases before we arrive. Lots to learn! Eric's preaching the first Sunday already so he's started looking over some commentaries on Colossians (and packing more), as he'll be preaching through the whole book in the 8 weeks (16 services).

Tonight we have an anniversary photo shoot (scheduled pre-Milan trip) with Anjuli. We've got haircuts and lawn mowing, holding the mail and paying bills and all the other things that happen with leaving for weeks. I have to work today and tomorrow, and then we're off!

Thank you all again for your support, encouragement, prayers and excitement for us as we get ready to serve the church in Milan. We appreciate your continued prayers for travel safety this week, and an ability to quickly adjust and settle in once we arrive. Grazie!

Baby girl

2011-05-06T14:27:00.000-07:00

Last night our friends Thomas and Adrienne invited us and their families over for gender reveal party.

Adrienne had her 20 week ultra sound, but instead of finding out the big news then, they had the technician write down the baby's gender and put it in an envelope.

Adrienne brought the secret (no peeking!) to a bakery and had them fill the cake with either pink or blue frosting, depending on the answer.

We all had dinner, voted on our guess and then anxiously awaited the cake cutting....

which revealed the pink underneath!

Here's a video of the exciting moment:

we're thrilled for them (and I'm starting to shop for all things ruffly)

Summer Plans

2011-04-27T10:11:00.000-07:00

Now that we've told some friends and family, we wanted to share some news and prayer request for Eric and I for this summer.

A couple of weeks ago a pastor around here approached Eric about an internship opportunity for the summer.

This was great because Eric didn't have any plans yet, and while he doesn't need any more internship experience for his degree program, he did need something to do this summer.

The details: for 8 weeks he would be working 6 days a week--preaching twice a Sunday, doing pastoral visits with the pastor, and teaching an English class which the church uses as an evangelism tool.

The internship is a little unique in that it is in Milan, Italy. (http://reformationitaly.org) (!!)

The duomo of Milan, photo from our honeymoon June 2009

My work is being generous and flexible in allowing me to go with Eric for almost half of the eight weeks. I'll be working part-time remotely as Eric will be staying really busy with the work there.

The church has an apartment we'll be staying in, although I don't have much more detail than that for now.

We're heading to New York for our summer vacation and then flying out of there the first week of June. I'll leave July 1st and Eric will stay until early August.

There is a ton to be figured out between now and when we leave in 5 weeks, but we feel very blessed to have this opportunity, and would covet your prayers that finances for the trip work out (it is an unpaid internship and we are responsible for our travel and incidentals while we're there), that we travel safely, and that Eric's work in Milan will be used well for the sake of the Kingdom.

More details to come!

Week in Chicago

2011-04-19T08:00:00.000-07:00

Eric and I just got home from a week in Chicago to work/attend The Gospel Coalition Conference. We had a great, but exhausting time!

One of the hotels that had rooms blocked out for the conference was the historic Palmer House Hilton (built in 1871). We decided to stay there instead of the hotel on McCormick Place's campus.

Its located right in the loop, and was beautiful!

main lobby

our room

The conference brought such a broad variety of people (reformed, baptist, evangelical) and the main topic of the plenary speakers was "Preaching Christ from the Old Testament". Eric's (educated) commentary was that most speakers did really well, although there were a few that didn't do justice to the topic.

If you get the chance, we'd highly recommend you listen to:

Tim Keller, Getting Out (Exodus)

Conrad Mbewe, The Righteous Branch (Jeremiah)

Matt Chandler, Youth (Ecclesiastes)

Mike Bullmore, God's Great Heart of Love Towards His Own (Zephaniah)

Don Carson, Getting Excited About Melchizedek (Psalms)

There were dozens of break-outs sessions and special events. One that we were able to attend was a live taping of The White Horse Inn, a radio program/podcast that Eric and I have been listening to for years. One of WSC's faculty members started WHI 20 years ago and we are closely connected with them at the seminary. Last minute one of the usual panelists got sick and wasn't able to make it, so Eric's preaching professor stepped in (he also spoke at another breakout session). We sat in the front row and cheered like groupies.

There was addendum post-conference called Christ + City that we also attended. Mostly urban pastors seeking to communicate the mission and encourage the leaders of urban or inner-city churches. Included in that event was Tim Keller's Generous Justice message, which was great to hear.

(Eric recently read his book, and subsequently wrote a review for Westminster's blog on it:

http://wscal.edu/blog/entry/book-review-generous-justice-by-tim-keller)

The events of the week concluded with a concert by some of Eric's favorite artists. I know most people will be skeptical when they hear this music described, so I'm just going to link up to some songs and let you know decide for your self.

We had a blast at the concert and felt edified leaving it, which is a weird thing after you've been head-bobbing, singing and stepping for two hours.

After the conference was over we headed home. A birthday dinner with Rachel, and a long lazy breakfast with the family rounded out the weekend.

We left just in time...snow had started to fall as our plane left. We were so happy to come home to Cali.

the trip where everything went wrong

2011-03-23T14:08:00.000-07:00

I recently traveled to Grand Rapids for work. Things did not go so well...

It started Thursday morning. I was feeling pretty confident walking out the door in the morning that I had things together. I hadn't made a list this time, relying on my previous travel "experience" (I usually travel 4-5 times a year for work)

About half-way to the airport it occurred to me that I had forgotten the book I needed to read for my book club. I'd been saving it specifically for this trip so I was pretty disappointed not to have it along.

Then, one by one, I realized how many more things I'd forgotten. My Greek homework. some brochures. my cell phone charger. I was nearly hyperventilating by the time I got to the airport, so I called my friend Kim and we caught up while I sipped a 'calm-down' latte.

I was going to West MI, but thought it would be faster & cheaper to fly into Chicago, rent a car, and drive up to the conference I was headed to. (And it should have been!)

After getting off the plane I eventually found my way to the rental car shuttle--carrying a suitcase, a large wheeled briefcase, a laptop bag and a 4 ft long display--and got everything worked out for my rental car. (which always takes forever, because I'm not 25) I walked out to the spot where they told me my tiny economy car was parked, and instead there was a teal Nissan Cube.

So I triple check the parking space # and what they wrote on my paperwork, pile all my things inside and get in the car to leave, puzzled.

When I get through the maze of cars to the exit, the gate attendant looks at my paperwork and says " Lady, you're in the wrong car." So I turn around head back with no idea where I'm going (rental car lots are confusing!), get lost, flag down an attendant and burst into tears.

I can be such a baby.

Thankfully this lady was really understanding. I asked them to find the car I was supposed to take (a Nissan Versa), which they brought over and had someone move all my luggage over to the new car. I pulled myself together and got on the road...where I sat in city traffic for 2 hours before breaking free for the two more hours it takes to get to Grand Rapids.

the conference was very slow and pretty uneventful (not a good thing), and I was feeling a little discouraged getting ready to leave. 5 hours before my flight left I hopped into the car to head back to Chicago.

I took the tollway to get into the city and since I was paying for an I-Pass, went to the far left lane and tried to get through the gate. But the sensor wasn't tripping to lift the gate. So I backed up, pulled forward several times. Meanwhile, a line of cars pile up behind me waiting to get through. Finally an attendant came over, told me the pass was giving them an error and I had to pay cash.

I get into the city at 3pm on Sunday afternoon expecting smooth sailing. I hit crawling traffic for 20 miles before arriving at O'Hare.

3.5 hours later I arrive to drop off my rental car, but I have to make a complaint about the I-Pass. Wait in line, nervously check watch. Repeat.

I finally board the shuttle with 1 hr 15 minutes before my flight. I'm the third person on the shuttle and the old man driving the bus is waiting for it to fill up. The minutes are ticking by and I'm a ball of stress. We leave...and it's now 55 minutes until my flight departs.

The shuttle drivers announces the stops. Guess who is on the last stop? That's right, this girl.

At this point it seems like every single person is taking a much time as possible to make me late. 10 feet before my drop-off I grab my 4 pieces of luggage and bound off the bus before it comes to a complete stop. punch my flight info into the self-service check in machine as fast as possible and get a print out saying I missed check-in.

by 4 minutes.

no exceptions made. (despite my plea that I could wait a week for my luggage!)

After standing line for 20 minutes at customer service, I was told there is another flight out to SD, in 3.5 hours. There are 5 open seats. "You're #1 now, but you could be #31 by the time the flight boards." (Thanks for the assurance!)

After a margarita and chips at the airport Chili's, I wait at the gate and am finally told I'll board the plane. We then sat on the plane waiting for a broken taillight to be fixed, the wings to be de-iced. Then we sit on the runway because there is a weather back up.

I spent the entire plane ride behind a 6 ft girl wearing a top-of-the-head bun AND a hooded sweatshirt, who also moved every 5 minutes so I couldn't see the movie being played. Even after I mentioned I couldn't see the movie and could she tilt the seat back?(she was sleeping anyway!), she still sat up directly in front of the screen.

(ps. the movie was Made in Dagenham, which was awesome)

I got home after 15 hours of traveling (a trip that usually takes 7 hrs max) and was not a very nice person until I woke up from 9 hours of sleep in my own bed.

Home never looked so good.

Weekending in Tucson

2011-03-15T08:44:00.000-07:00

1. In N Out is our road trip fast food joint
2. Air Force airfield in Tucson
3. walking the grounds of Voyager Resort
4. dove who made a nest in the palm tree next to G & G's front porch.
5. grammy and gramps
6, 7, 8. dinner at La Parilla Suiza. Enchiladas sauce got spilled on me, which resulted in free margarita
9. sunset
10. blueberry pomegranate chocolate chip ice cream--surprisingly amazing!
11. lots of card games were played as usual
12. fourteen hours round trip in the car.

in case you couldn't tell from the photos, Eric and I took advantage of our one free weekend this spring to visit Grammy and Gramps. We had a blast hanging out with them as usual.

(all photos above take on my new HTC HD7 phone and edited with the photo enhancer app)

To tempt you to visit g & g for yourself, here are some Tucson sunset photos taken on my normal camera:

Raiders of the Lost Storage-Locker

2011-02-12T14:53:00.000-08:00

Despite (or, perhaps because of) a global recession everyone still loves a treasure hunt

Preface: The following is an essay I wrote for a recent (awesome) class on cultural exegesis. -ec

If you haven’t inherited grandma’s love of PBS’s “Antiques Roadshow” in the past decade, maybe you’ll like a wily gang of burly, tattooed, middle-aged men raiding auctioned-off storage units in California. Proof positive that you don’t need to be a sissy to enjoy a good treasure hunt. The past few months have seen a flurry of new reality shows hoping to appease the pirate and prospector in us all.

A&E’s “Storage Wars” pits four men (The Collector, the Gambler, the Mogul, and the Young Gun) against one another in a battle for the highest bid. We follow auctioneer Dan Dotson through the wild west of Californian self-storage facilities as he auctions off the contents of lockers whose owners neglect to pay their rental fees. After 90 days, the lock of the unlucky units are cut off as a crowd of potential bidders peers in hoping to get lucky.

What’s the strategy? It’s not too far afield from the poker tables in Vegas. You bid on what you can see in hopes of what you can’t. What’s in that box marked “crystal?” Is it a collection of Waterford Crystal, or a just a box of Crystal’s unwanted dormitory décor? Does the Sony Plasma TV box contain a plasma TV, or a tangled mass of discarded Christmas tree lights?

Each competitor appears to have a unique strategy on what treasure can turn the most profit. But they’re all agreed that in this town Profit is king. A storage-locker is only valuable as a “money-making unit.” Once the locks are cut and the buyers take a peek inside, the bidding begins. $100, 125, 150, do I have $200? Often the competition is not so much out of interest in owning the unit, but of bidding up the price to see who you can sucker into buying a less-than-promising locker.

The sights and sounds of the Old West come alive (even the soundtracks of spaghetti-Westerns!) as the shootout between four alpha males escalates into the discovery of the contents of each locker. It’s either a comic book collection worth 100 grand, or (more likely) a trash bag full of old, musty sweaters worth 50 cents.

Spike’s “Auction Hunters” follows Ton Jones and Allen Haff as they dig through storage units in search of buried treasure. The hundreds of auctioned storage units provide these two business partners with an opportunity to score big on the (unmentioned) misfortune of those unable to pay their rent. Along the way, Ton and Allen let you in on their insider auction secrets and strategies so that you can do it too. But be warned, you only survive by sticking to their prescribed game plan.

The rise of the self-storage unit is a fascinating phenomenon in itself. Our 3000 square foot homes can’t contain all our stuff, so we have built 2.35 billion square feet of self-storage to do the trick. Apparently laying up treasures for yourself in self-storage doesn’t stop the thieves. Interestingly enough, the same network that brings you “Storage Wars” also airs “Hoarders,” a show about people whose only salvation seems tied to renting about 30 self-storage units, and then some. The advent of the self-storage-locker-auction, however, is even more remarkable. At the heart of these scavenger hunts seems to be an innate desire in all of us to find that one treasure, the victory of unearthing that Picasso or 1^st edition Superman comic.

But it’s not merely about the discovery of the hidden gem that excites us, right? It’s the journey along the way. It’s winning the bid, digging through the spoils, anticipating the score, and (if you’re lucky) striking it rich. If you’re not a fan of storage-lockers, than Discovery’s “Gold Rush Alaska” embodies the same idea. A group of men on an expedition into the remote wilderness of Porcupine Creek Alaska in search of buried gold. As one of the gold-diggers says, what kind of man wouldn’t want to be right there with them? Ready to risk it all and throw everything they have into it, Jack Hoffman exclaims, “I’m ready to die for it.”

Whatever we might say about the moral values of auctioning off the belongings of people who have hit hard economic times, there still exists some impulse that draws us into the hunt. We’re ready, like the bidders in “Storage Wars,” like the amateur miners in “Gold Rush Alaska,” to risk it all for the chance of securing fortune and glory. Buried treasure is the stuff of legends and fantastical stories—yet, this new wave of treasure-finding reality TV really begs the question: what is the one treasure that outweighs all other valuation? What are we ready to risk it all for? What are we willing, like Jack Hoffman, to die for?

Now turn the tables. What if one of these storage raiders had an insider (maybe someone more reliable than Ton Jones?); someone to clue them in that inside those boxes behind the corrugated metal doors awaited something of inestimable value? Not just old t-shirts and dusty furniture, but a treasure worth bidding all you had. It might not make for good reality TV, but it’d be a far safer investment.

The truth is that there is an Insider who has clued us into a treasure that surpasses our wildest imagination, certainly something far grander than anything a self-storage locker could contain. And He’s not only clued us in to the secret, but also told us exactly where to look. He called it “the pearl of great value” and said that when you find it, it’s best to make sure you bid it all and buy it. The great irony is that elsewhere this Insider says that that this greatly priced pearl belongs to those who come to the auction without money. Imagine that—a penniless auction. Blessed, happy are those who come to Him poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, the hidden treasure worth all the risk in the world. It’s a treasure that no storage-raider can ever touch.

Kim's Visit

2011-02-12T11:54:00.000-08:00

When Kim arrived Wednesday evening, we headed off to C level for a lovely dinner watching the sunset in the harbor. I love this place! We both enjoyed Syrah, Kim ordered the roasted lamb on rosemary foccaccia (the chutney they put on this sandwich is amazing!) and I had lobster BLT with lobster bisque.

after checking out the San Diego skyline

we headed off to the Old Globe for a musical production of Jane Austen's Emma

i love grabbing a hot cocoa at intermission. yum!

We slept in Thursday morning and then headed to the beach town of La Jolla. It was a perfect day.

Eric's mom recommended brunch at the Brockton Villa. It was delicious.

Check out the view from our table!

Kim got the artichoke, asparagus and goat cheese omelette, and I got the house special orange Coast Toast.

they served my (hot) latte in a clear cup with a straw!

We spent the rest of the morning walking the cove

cute little sea lions on the rocks. they had lots of little pups!

Kim's first dip in the pacific

Then we headed inland for some leisurely shopping.

gelato (not as good as Italy's!)

a first for everything--this is the first cupcake shop I've been in. They even had a gluten free option for Kim!

Consignment shops galore provided some new duds for both of us.

We finished up the day at a local winery, Orfila, where we did a tasting and enjoyed the sunset.

Friday morning we headed for the hills a few miles away to hike at San Elijo Hills.

I've never hiked here when it's been so clear--so crazy to see the ocean (15 miles away)!

We intended on a leisurely morning hike, but ended up walking over 5 miles, all very steep inclines, in about 2.5 hours. (lots of breaks)

is it over yet?

Exhausted, we dragged our selves for some refreshment from In 'N Out!

Can you guess from the attire where we spent a leisurely afternoon? Sadly (ha, this is going to sound so snotty), it was a little too windy and cool for the perfect day at the beach.

but the sun was still shining, surfers still surfing, margaritas still in order

One of Kim's requests for the visit was to visit coffee shops. A latte lover never turns down those opportunities! Friday night we went to Old California Coffee House (formerly, Mocha Marketplace)

Dessert drinks...my favorite!

Kim tried a Mexican mocha

and I got caramel butterscotch

Saturday morning brought more coffee--at our favorite roasters, Safari

Eric's group of friends has been spending Saturday mornings here for over 8 years.

I convinced Kim to take a pound of beans home (She loved them!) and we headed off to the Island of Coronado for the day.

First stop, Hotel Del

We walked through the basement shops and checked out the display showing the history of the hotel.

Picked up some sweet souvenirs! (Kim had lots of people to buy for!)

We ended the day at Miguel's--a great mexican place across the street from Hotel Del, but hidden down a small walkway.

Margaritas and tacos. A great end to a great (long) weekend!

I love entertaining and was excited to see some new SD sights. I think I may have convinced Kim to join me out here :-)

2011-01-26T15:00:00.000-08:00

Whenever it gets hard to be away from Chicago and friends, I just convince someone to come out here and see me!

My friend Kim is coming to visit for a long weekend. She gets in tonight and I'm so excited to spend time with her. For a year we were Sunday lunch buddies and cooked together at her apartment after church.

of all my friends, she the most beach-loving, so we'll be heading there at least a couple times.

Oak Street Beach, Chicago

Tonight, we're going to C-level to eat and watch the sunset. Then heading over to the Old Globe to see Emma, the musical.

Also planned for the weekend: brunch at The Brockton Villa, La Jolla shopping, Orfila wine tasting, Elfin Forest hiking, and lots of laying in the sun.

(the weather looks like it will cooperate)

house disaster (proceed with caution)

2011-01-26T08:00:00.000-08:00

On Saturday morning, out of the blue, we discovered an unwelcome substance in the closet: Mold.

Eric had an old belt on the floor of his closet that was just coated in it. It had turned green and white, and was so disgusting we were gagging. You guys can all thank me that we threw it out so fast I wasn't able to take a photo of it.

Commence freak out.

And begin to empty entire closet. and find more mold.

(if you don't want to see any of these pictures, you may want to skip the rest of this post)

We ripped out the carpet pieces laid in the closet (our closets are about an inch raised off the bedroom carpeted floor and extra pieces of carpeting were cut for the closet floors and just laid in them), only to find this:

From then on it was just like a bad movie. We started pulling out things from our other closets, in our bedroom and office. And wouldn't you know. Every single closet was infested.

Things we don't often pull out--like luggage, old school books, board games, and old clothes. Everything smelled gross and musty, and a lot of things had mold spores on them.

Somewhere in the midst of this, we called our landlord. He said he'd have an inspector come out early this week (hopefully today?) to see if he could figure out where moisture was getting in.

Most of this mold has to be somewhat recent because it wasn't all on old/unused stuff.

Bu it just seemed like once we started looking, we found in places we couldn't believe we hadn't noticed it before (inside a kitchen closet, on the baseboards).

E's blazer

Lots of stuff ruined, some stuff salvageable with a lot of effort

Eric started unloading the contents of every closet, inspecting items. We started throwing things in piles: garbage, try-to-salvage, just needs a wash, and seems ok.

Anything that smelled I set out in the sun.

I started the laundry, adding baking soda and vinegar to each load, and hung things to dry:

(SO thankful for a sunny day!)

Then I made a bleach and hot water solution and we started sponging down every surface in the closets. Looking back, we probably should have gotten gloves and a mask, but I just wanted to get it done. Every fan on in the house, every window open.

I can't believe I'm going to share these pictures, but this is what the house looked like in process.

5 hours of emptying, scrubbing, bleaching, laundrying, sunning.

I had done about 6 loads of laundry at this point and sometime after dinner (Eric's mom brought us In 'n Out--life saving!) we just quit.

Sunday was spent trying to put our lives/house back together.

Apparently you can't find dehumidifiers in SoCal (who would expect humidity?) so we stocked every closet with cedar blocks and moisture absorbing crystals something like this.

I did more laundry and we started to carefully restock (it was a good opportunity to purge!), leaving the floors clear, doors open, and still running fans. Not everything is put back together, but we're getting there.

I imagine we'll be paranoid for a while(even if it turns out to be a fixable problem). We rotate the fans every night and leave the ceiling fans on all day.

I feel like this is only a tiny taste of what home ownership will be like. yikes!

Xapa!

2011-01-18T15:49:00.000-08:00

I have an infinitely higher respect for all seminary students since starting a Greek I class this term.Yep, biblical (Hellenic) Greek is on the docket for this spring. I'm taking it for credit, primarily in order to keep up with the work. (I knew it would be too hard to learn it without having committed to doing the exercises..and it's really hard to do homework/take quizzes if I'm not taking it for credit.)

2 weeks in and I have memorized 30 vocab words, 4 noun paradigms and 2 verbs conjugations. (well, memorize is used loosely)

Did I mention that I'm not even using the English alphabet letters (The word alphabet, ironically enough is made of the first two greek letters: Alpha and Beta!)

Eric will continue to say "I told you so" and "It's not that hard, just wait until you get to xxx" while I slave at the kitchen table in the evenings, but I'm really enjoying it.

Eric preached from Galatians 1:1-5 on Sunday and I was able to follow along in his Greek NT and knew about 8 of the words he read.(exciting!)
ps. you can listen to his sermon here

Some Present Deponent Indicative verb conjugations :-)

In the meantime, you'll find me with flashcards in my pocket wherever I go! (including in the ride lines at Disneyland yesterday)

ps. the subject of this post is pronounced Chara (with a guttural k) and it means joy in Greek :-)

An Update: 2010

2010-12-21T16:46:00.000-08:00

Well since I directed everyone here on our Christmas postcards, I thought I better do a 2010 recap in case you were hoping for a little more of an update!
(I should also do a better job of posting in general...)

This year was a year of settling (after last year was a lot of change and transition for us)

I feel totally at home in California now (obviously, Eric is happy here) :-) We've started to put more things up on the walls in the house and feel more comfortable there.
I've gotten settled into my job better, and this spring started doing some recruitment travel. So far I've only done recruiting to the midwest (IL and MI), but that's fine with me as I get to see family and friends! It's a fun change of pace to my normal routine. (I will travel 4-5 times a year)
I started gardening and am still figuring a lot of things out about the soil, California weather, and plants. I recently planted a winter garden, which I'll blog about soon. (So fun to grow things Dec-Feb!)
We've made some really good friends from the seminary--two couples from the south! We tease each other about our accents and vocabulary, have games nights, dinners and bonfires.
I still enjoy cooking, but have done less in the last few months with a really busy schedule.
We spent a week in Colorado this summer at a family reunion with the Klunders.
We're still involved in our church's youth group that meets weekly all year. Eric's teaching 9th grade catechism as well. Eric was also asked to speak at the winter retreat of the regional youth groups this coming February.

We hope this finds all of our loved ones well, and hope to stay in touch with you one way or the other throughout the year!

Blessings,

Eric & Katie

A bookclub

2010-12-15T15:18:00.000-08:00

Last summer, with E so busy studying, I decided to pick up reading again and just grabbed something that looked interesting off his bookshelf: The Age of Innocence. So I brought it to work to read on my lunch break.

Barb, a co-worker joined me in the lunch room a few minutes later and commented that she had just began reading the same book, so we started chatting about it.

Then another co-worker joined us, and was curious about our book discussion. It turns out he is extremely well-read, and had read Age of Innocence several times.

We started discussing our progress in the book regularly at lunches, and when we finished the first book, I mentioned that I thought it was time I finally started reading Harry Potter (since it is one of my husband's favorite book series).

We all agreed to read the together--although Dan(the 2nd co-worker) had already read them several times. After discussing the books gradually at lunches, we decided to have an official meeting to discuss the whole series.

And that is how our book club began!

Each of us takes a turn picking out a book and leads the discussion. We usually hold our meetings at each other's houses.I've been really enjoying the variety of books that have been chosen.

Since we started last July, we added another member--the wife of faculty member who is also an avid reader.

Here are some of the other books we've gone through so far:

The Age of Innocence (Barnes & Noble Classics)

Olive Kitteridge

The Pastures of Heaven (Twentieth-Century Classics)

I've grown a lot as a reader and as a person through discussing novels with this group. I would highly recommend finding a few other avid reader you look up to and forming a club of your own!

Bomb Factory in town

2010-12-09T08:00:00.000-08:00

Lots of excitement going on in Esco today.

A guy was making bombs in his home in town(which is just around the corner from our Saturday morning coffee shop and my usual grocery store.) It was reported that it was the largest amount of bomb-making material ever found in the US.

I took this picture of the street on Saturday on my way to coffee

Last week they detonated a few of the bombs (and shut down a major freeway for half the morning).

Today they're doing a controlled burning of the house because of the explosives they believe to be inside.

We're going to follow it live here: http://www.signonsandiego.com/bomb-house/

You can catch up on the story here: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/nov/20/powerful-homemade-explosives-found-north-county-ho/

we're not in any danger, but it's definitely been the excitement of the week.

Departure of the Deciduous

2010-11-18T16:11:00.001-08:00

I come bearing sad news. Or, rather, you have arrived to read my sad news.

This weekend we had to say goodbye to one of my favorite things about the house we're renting: our big backyard tree

Our landlord had arranged to have someone trim it over the weekend and when he stopped by after the trimming he realized that 1. the trimmers had butchered the tree (chopped off the top and left the low hanging side branches that were supposed to be removed) and 2. the tree's trunk disease had gotten bad enough that its large branches would like fall and could do some real damage.

So he called us while we were both out on Saturday and let us know it had to go.

I didn't realize how few pictures we have of our backyard until I started looking for them!
Here is one taken the evening we invited our church's youth group over for a bonfire last September .

< The tree covered about 2/3 of our backyard (on the west side of the house) and provided total afternoon shade. We rarely turned on our air conditioner because our house was so well-protected from the sun. I've been looking online to see if I could figure out what kind of a tree it was and it might be some species of oak. Our landlord was apologetic, but there wasn't much we could do about it. I pouted and watched out the window while they cut it down, branch by branch

And then, it was over.

Our kitchen is three times as bright, but I think i would give up my sunlight to have that tree back.

I'm trying to look on the bright side (literally--there much more sunlight in our house, and a chance for grass to grow again) but this morning it looked no less sad and lonely.

I'm not sure anything's going to be done about the stump for a while--does anyone have suggestions about how I could make it a little less ugly? (a pot with a hanging plant?)

Theatre with Jane Gray and Allan

2010-09-28T09:00:00.000-07:00

Every summer San Diego has a Summer Shakespeare Festival at the Lowell Davies Theatre in Balboa Park. It's outdoors! We saw The Taming of the Shrew earlier in the summer with Eric's family. Last week we took Allan and Jane Gray to see The Madness of King George III.

It's not a Shakespeare play, but it was set in the same time and place as a book I recently read for my book club (Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire), so I was interested in seeing it.

Then two weeks before we wanted to go, I got an email from the media director for the theater that the tickets had gone down in price to $10 (usually $50, or $20 if you are 30 yrs old or younger). SO we snatched them up.

After a hectic day with work and school (Jane Gray got a job!), it was nice to take a break and enjoy the show.

Right after this photo we got reprimanded for taking pictures!

We enjoyed walking through the gardens in Balboa park and sipping hot chocolate in the intermission.

Fun night with friends!

In the Kitchen with Katie: the latest

2010-09-26T16:35:00.000-07:00

Here is a large photo dump of the food I've been making lately, with a few recipe links:

Blackberry Muffins

Baked Citrus Cod on a bed of roasted tomatoes and potatoes

Peach Crisp

Ryans last meal before going back to college:
Ribs, Corn on the cob, corn muffins, potatoes

Chicken in a gorgonzola sauce

Zucchini Cupcake (shown without cream cheese frosting)

And lastly, some garden produce.
I think my garden got it's second wind. Suddenly my zucchini and peppers started blooming again this week!

Pizza Night: Girl's Style

2010-09-18T20:45:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, Carly, Dyan, Adrienne and I got together for our monthly-ish girls night. Typically we split up the food prep and drinks and enjoy them at Thomas and Adrienne's house.

This week we decided to try our hands at some homemade, gourmet pizza. Both Eric's dad and a bookclub member have fig trees, so we have an abundant supply this time of year. We picked a recipe that involved figs, and attempted to recreate an herb potato pizza I had at Leucadia Pizzeria in the spring.

I picked up two balls of pre-made pizza dough (wheat and regular) at a market.

Carly and I tossed and stretched like pros and then set the pizzas on boards covered in cornmeal.

Adrienne started sauteing the potatoes and I carmelized a sliced red onion.

carly spread the oil and we topped

Dyan chopped all the herbs!

And the yummy result:

We ended the night with homemade salted caramel ice cream. delightful.

Here are the recipes we used:
Fig, Onion Goat Cheese
Sage Rosemary Potato

2010-08-23T21:56:00.000-07:00

My new friend Jane Gray has had much more time to update her blog, so I'm going to direct you over there to keep up with some more of our July fun.

A Morning at Vista Market
Wine and Cheese Game Night

(if you stop by, makes sure to comment and say hello!)

We went to the Klunder Reunion in Colorado a couple weeks ago, and you can check out our photos of it here:
http://flickr.com/gp/41305990@N06/1mE0Jw

As of yesterday Eric completed his summer-long internship in Chino. While the busyness doesn't seem to stop, we're relieved to have completed the internship and to get back into our normal schedule when school starts up.

But these next two weeks are some of my busiest at work (WSC has their biggest incoming masters class in 30 years!), and Eric is preparing to preach at a church in LA this Sunday, and speak a youth group conference in Big Bear over Labor Day weekend.

Also, we have a roommate moving into our garage apartment before school this year. He's one of Eric's friends from school and since he spends every weekend up in LA, I think it will be an easy transition for us.

Can hardly believe September is a week away!

Summer Update: Anniversary

2010-07-23T15:47:00.000-07:00

It's been one month since my last post so I couldn't wait a day longer. Next month i'll have a lot more interesting things to post about!

Eric is over halfway through his summer internship which takes him away 4 days and 2 nights per week.

I'll try to update everyone one what else has been keep us occupied this summer.

We went away for a weekend for our 1st anniversary

What a difference a year makes (not much)
Happy as ever!

we stayed here:

in this room:

Swam in this pool:

and relaxed...

for not nearly long enough.

It was roasting hot, but we hiked to a waterfall and soothed our tired toes.

We toasted our anniversary with some Chianti from the Chianti region in Italy. The last of our 'souvenirs' from the honeymoon!

Garden: weeks 6-9

2010-06-23T20:58:00.000-07:00

Ok, ok, so I don't write very often, and all I can think about is my garden.

But here is an update!

The cucs and zucs started exploding. I harvested my first cucmber waaaay too late it was terrible.

But at least it was big & beautiful!

(about a week and a half later...)

pepper plants are flowering, but still getting eaten! It's frustrating because I can't find a single bug!

tomatoes are growing!

Because we have a bunny problem (we even found the rear half of a bunny in our yard the other day--gross!! I have no idea how it got there, or where it's front half went!), we decided to put up a rabbit fence. No digging underneath it yet, so I'll feel more comfortable when I plant broccoli, cauliflower and lettuce later in the year)

I don't know if the flower eating has been bunnies or bugs

any ideas on what to do with this?

Garden: week 5

2010-05-30T23:43:00.000-07:00

So I'm a little behind on posting pictures of our garden. I was going to try to update weekly, but three weeks have gone by. Check out the progress! (weeds included)

Most notably, the zucchini and cucumber plants just exploded last week. All four plants have blooms on them now! (even the shrimpy cucumber plant I thought would die!)

The pepper plants growth seems sort of stunted, but the yellow pepper plant started blooming. I also noticed some leaves being eaten...but never seen any bugs on the plants. I'm wondering if these teeny holes could be compliments of our local warren of peter rabbits who keep digging under the fence to get to our yard.

gerber daisies

The wildflower mix that currently looks like a huge weed invasion behind the gerbs started blooming!

The tomatoes are still growing and flowering, but I haven't noticed any little fruits forming. Anxiously awaiting this!

Last time I promised pictures of the flowers and herbs, and instead of showing you the three week old pictures, I'll just update you with the current state of things.

Here are the back patio herbs. The biggest pots of mint, a savory herb mix, and the large flower pot, I inherited from a graduating student's wife who is moving away. So nice to have such mature plants among my little seedlings.

tangled mess of mint

rosemary, sage, and oregano

anyone know what this flower is? ( i think it's the same as the scraggly plant in the front--see below)

basil (also just started to get eaten)

rosemary

sage

i have no idea what this flower is, but I rescued it from a pot in the corner of our backyard and I thought it was just grasses until it bloomed last week!

clearance pansies from Walmart are surviving, but not thriving....

this plant almost died a few weeks ago, but when I repotted it out side it started growing like a weed. I was beginning to think it was a weed until it started to resemble another gerber

THe back patio (wish we could do more with it!)

the gorgeous (expensive) hydrangeas that I"m paranoid to plant for fear they'll die in the poor drainage soil I have in the garden

All the plants along the front of the house were here when we got here. I've just started to dead head them in hopes they flower a bit more, since they can bloom for a long season in this weather.

I'm not sure what to do with this mess

although the grasses started to produce little white flowers!

for some reason the geraniums flower heads are three times bigger on the side facing towards the house (the shade?)

and lastly, the rose bushes on the south side of our house. The pink one just started picking up with blooming, but i'm going to fertilize to see if I can get them to fill out a bit more. They haven't been touched in 3+ years!

A little bouquet I made of the geraniums (?) out front and roses a couple weeks ago:

El Jardin

2010-05-18T09:03:00.000-07:00

I was talking to my dad last week about about my garden and he told me to post up some pictures!

So here is a tour of our little garden. I wanted to start small and keep things manageable due to our constraints on time and money. I also motivated to keep up with it, and enjoy working in it, because it's not too overwhelming or too much work.

The pictures below are from last Sunday, and about two weeks after I planted everything. I'll try to keep you updated as things progress!

Our soil out here is a mix of very sandy and very clay-ey. I layed some top soil over the whole plot which was roto-tilled in, and then dug about 8 inches deep and mixed in a mulch type mixer for clay soil where I planted each plant:

Red Pepper

This pepper plant is doing the best of the four of them, and it just happens to be my favorite kind of pepper. I planted these as 4inch seedlings, but was still surprised to see a bloom already!

green pepper

jalapeno

the four of 'em

Cucs

Zucs

the one really sad plant. Can't figure out what's wrong with it. Too much water, not enough? Too much sun, not enough?

I decided to pot my tomatoes because it's a little easier to keep them upright:

Early Girl

Roma

these onions from the grocery store sprouted, so i planted them.

It seemed like a good idea at the time, but I'm not sure what they'd be good for now.

Wild flower mix just sprouting [in a very uneven pattern]

Next week I'll show you the herbs and flowers!

Young People's Spaghetti Dinner

2010-05-11T22:52:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday, we helped the youth group kids throw their annual fundraising spaghetti dinner.

the sun was streaming in SO brightly through the windows it makes the family in the fron look angelic!

These girls did a great job serving up the spaghetti

Kelli and I cut desserts:

While a couple of the junior girls served them up

As part of the fundraiser,(in addition to taking donations at the door) several of the women in church make dessert specialties that get auctioned off.

In the mix were stroopwafels, banket, mocha cake, caramel corn, chocolate chip cookies, and much more!

The desserts went for hundreds of dollars to some big sweet tooths and the youth managed to raise 25% more than they have in years past!

and Eric egged people on in dessert bidding:

The money goes to the youth groups games, and retreats, but also to their mission trips and care packages sent to an orphanage n Mexico.

I took a video of the kids cleaning up, in case you are interested (which I don't expect you to be, it's not that interesting)

The Dutch Fest

2010-05-07T17:00:00.000-07:00

Eric spent a good portion of the weekend finishing up a paper for school, so I was on my own a couple Saturdays ago. It was the local Christian School's bi-annual dutch fest so I had to check it out!

For those of you Chicago Dutch who haven't had stroopwafels, I have to say it's the one big advantage of the California dutch!

Take a little ball of dough, put it in the cookie iron.

While still hot, immediately cut in half, spread with butter, corn syrup, brown sugar mixture, and put halves together. wipe the edges clean.

Leave with this:

They were selling packs of frozen stroopwafels and making fresh ones right in front of you. Thankfully I got there early...check out the line just a few minutes later!

Then I stopped to grab a fresh olie bollen (or two)

The CA dutch put apples in them! I like them much better without.

mmm, greasy, sugary, fried deliciousness

I broswed the shops and stopped by to check out the pies. I've heard this pie is delicious, but I couldn't bring myself to buy a piece. What do you think?

I wore blue and orange in honor of my heritage :-)

And that was my morning at the dutch fest.

Trip to MI for work and friends

2010-04-23T08:00:00.000-07:00

Many of you know that the reason I was able to be out in the Midwest so long in March is because I had to work at a conference in MI for work the following weekend. I drove up there early Thursday morning, did some recruiting at Kuiper College and then arrived at a cute little house in GR and was happily reuinited with my wonderful friend Caitlin!

It was so fun to catch up and hang out in their hood. On Thursday, Cait made some yummy pot pie and then we went out for a beer at a sweet pub/restaurant called The Winchester.

I was browing the specialty beers when I came up a brew from a certain Stone Brewing Co. of Escondido, CA! Little did I know, even in snowy MI, I couldn't escape home!

One of my favorite couples!

I browsed the menu just for fun and was so impressed with the selection, I just had to try these pierogies

They did not disappoint, and as you can see, they didn't hurt the wallet either!
I've been so desensitized to high costs, I was shocked to see how affordable MI menus are priced.

oh yummy.

I have no pictures to document the rest of the weekend...but it involved me working two 13 hours days, antique book shopping for my studious husband, lots of Biggby coffees, meeting up for lunch with Gary, Christie and Fam, meeting up for a beer with AJ, and a really great conference on Revelation.

But after 11 days away, I was ready to be home!

Spring Break

2010-04-22T08:14:00.000-07:00

Or as Eric, and most of his classmates called it, "Paper Writing Break"

So while eric spent at least 30/40 hours his spring break week in the library doing school work, we also took a little time to relax. On Monday (the Mon. before Easter), we went to the Wild Animal Park with our annual passes (purchased when Grammy and Gramps were out visiting) and enjoyed the afternoon sun.

There was a brand new elephant calf that was a little shy:

"You don't get this kind of view in Chicago" -Eric

We nearly ran into this little guy on our way to the Tour of Africa tram

Just lion around

Happy Resurrection Day!

2010-04-07T00:00:00.000-07:00

from Casa Chappell

ps. this was taken after we attended a very, very early Easter service, hence the tired eyes.

Kelsey's personal shower

2010-04-04T18:52:00.000-07:00

March brought on wedding season! I planned Kelsey's bachelorette party which was more of a personal shower. We stayed in, ate, played games, opened gifts and watched sappy wedding movies and had a great time!

some sloppy petit fours with baked brie and cheese in the background

mad props to Anna and Kait who did almost all of the set up while I worked on food. Thank you girls!

toilet paper wedding couture

opened gifts....

sorry this is where it ends. The rest were for Josh's eyes only!!

We also set up a photo booth, but ended up using another camera, because my battery died.
All in all it was a fun low key night for Kels and her friends, and a fun way to kick off the wedding weekend!

February/March food post

2010-04-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

Because I'm a little lazy.
Because I love cooking.
and because I have a bunch of food photos :-)

Roasted Red Pepper Pasta

Variation on Waldorf goat cheese salad

Pan grilled chicken on cheesy polenta

4 cheese ravioli tossed with olive oil, parsley and fresh parmesan

with side salad

Pad Thai (from scratch)

Asian Lettuce Wraps

Fancy Macaroni

Wanna come over for dinner sometime?
:-)

Tuscon

2010-03-31T12:00:00.000-07:00

About a month+ ago, Eric's mom asked us if we'd like to go to Tucson to help her celebrate her uncle's 90th birthday.

We left at 6am on a sunny Saturday morning and started driving east. I've never driven through the desert and I have to say the drive was gorgeous! [despite the rain]. check it out!

I call this Flooded Desert. Because that's what it is.
weird!

On our way in we stopped to pick up Grandma D. from the airport (she flew in from TX) and drove straight to Uncle George and Aunt Dee's. We hadn't told them we were coming, because Eric's mom thought they would tell her not to come if she told them.

After the big surprise we had a birthday party with a couple of their friends that included take out chinese and apple pie.

The birthday boy

apple pie compliments of our buddy, Marie

I had fun getting to know Uncle George and Aunt Dee in the afternoon. After a couple hours we headed back to Tucson, where we were planning to spend the evening at The Rodeo

Unfortunately, it was pouring rain. Just pouring. It's a weird experience to see puddles in an otherwise dead, dry cactus-full desert!

So instead we vegged at the hotel, stopped for some In 'N' Out and then called up Grammy and Gramps who were still staying in their RV Resort in Tucson.
We headed over to see the Resort, their motor home, and their new park model!

The next morning we visited a local PCA church, and headed back to Uncle George and Aunt Dee's for a KFC lunch and goodbyes.

The drive back was pretty dreary and gross with the rain...except for the moments when the clouds broke

It was a fun little getaway, but next time we head out to Tucson we need to do a little more research on sites to see and things to do.

Young People's retreat

2010-02-26T00:00:00.000-08:00

The weekend of President's Day was youth group winter retreat. Which means Eric and I spent Valentine's weekend apart each with a cabin full of teenages, sleeping on bunk beds with 2 inch thick 'matresses' [...if you could really say we slept at all!]

The retreat is put on by RYS and there were 4 main URC churches involved, with two other smaller URCs that had kids in attendance. our group was over 100 people!

The camp we stayed at was Pali Mountain and it was pretty nice. The food was really great for camp food, and they won some kind of best camp food award in 2009.

I got up early the first morning and took pictures of the sunrise

The boys cabin across the way.

Kelli (another seminary wife) and I had the junior and senior girls on the top floor of the cabin and another leader in our group had the freshman and sophomores downstairs.

Even though there was quite a bit of snow on the ground, it got up to the high 40's during the day so the snow was heavy and slushy. But it was perfect for snowballs and forts.

(only in CA would have kids playing in the snow in t-shirts!

The kids also did a lot of sledding, and built ramps and runs all weekend for it.

Our theme for the week (the messages and Sunday's services) was wisdom. Bill and Robert Godfrey both spoke on Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job.

We had a couple of group games one night...this is balloon volleyball with 100 people...

First married Valentines....can you see the lack of sleep?

All in all it was a great weekend...we loving working with the youth group at church!

The whole crew

Grammy and Gramps come to visit

2010-02-20T00:04:00.000-08:00

During a rather dreary and rainy January, gma and gpa trekked from AZ to visit us West Coasters for a week (as well as see some friends and other family) It was so nice to see them, and show them around our town and Southern California.
We hung out a little bit during the week but between our church commitments and their friends, we didn't see them much.

On Friday, they stopped by to see the seminary and I showed them around. Then they were off with Eric to the Wild Animal Park. Leave it to grandpa to take this photo of a bird of paradise, but no real animals :-)

Saturday we met up early-ish for coffee and then trekked up to Julian where we explored the cute little town. Julian is a former mining town turned tourist town with lots of fun shops, antiques, collectibles, kitschy home and garden stores, and old fashioned cafes and diners. Grammy and I both remarked how much Auntie Dee would have loved it.

One of many shops with kitschy collectibles. But grammy and I both found something!

Eric and Gramps waitied patiently while we girls ventured into every shop

We stopped at the Julian Cafe and Bakery for lunch

yum!

They served our drinks in cowboy boot shaped glasses...loved it!

We ended our time in Julian with a piece of pie to share, and took a whole pie home (wild mountain berry and boysenberry apple respectively, if you must know :-)) for Sunday dessert.

We spent most of the day in Julian, so afterwards we relaxed at our house for an hour or so, before heading west to watch the sunset from Oceanside Pier.

grammy was cold. eric was goofy. [so, nothing new]

Doesn't this make you want to come out and visit us?

How bout now?

Don't let the wind and jackets fool you. We are wimpy californians. It was probably low 50s

grammy got really cold so I gave her my scarf

we go close enough to a pelican to pet it.

At the very end of the Oceanside Pier is a 50's style diner called Ruby's where we ate a light dinner.

I love when people come visit us becuase we do touristy things we wouldn't otherwise.

On Sunday, I made dinner and had Eric's parents over.
[the sunset pictures and those that follow are grandpa's...my camera battery died]

I had an itchy nose! and yes, I washed my hands before finishing the food.

Eric's mom brought me tulips. She was thinking of her daughter-in-law's dutch family :-)

Monday night was another rousing night of card games and dessert since grammy and gramps had lupper with grammy's niece.

Thanks for coming to visit us Grammy and Gramps! We loved having you
& we would love to have more of you here....hint, hint :-)

*As you read this we'll be on our way to Tuscon, AZ to visit some of Eric's relatives for a very short weekend. Hoping also to see my first rodeo! Blog post on our youth group retreat and AZ weekend to come!*

Cooking at our casa

2010-02-17T18:00:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share some of the food that's being made over here in Casa Chappell.

When we first settled in and i started cooking, I was really interested in trying a bunch of new recipes--both from the new cook books I'd received and from a few of my favorite blogs. Having my own kitchen, being the grocery shopper again was a really fun experience, so I continued to experiment with different foods almost every evening.

Now over 7 months into our marriage, I've realized I've been 'experimenting' for quite some time. Other than our busy nights (when we have 30-45 minutes to make dinner and eat it) and Eric's favorite...stir fry, I haven't made a single meal twice! (and even with stir fry and 'quick meals' I do some sort of variation)

So i decided to continue to challenge...for one whole year I'm not going to make the same meal twice. After the first year, I'm going to take our favorites from year 1, but still try to make new meals once or twice a week. I love the flexibility of trying new things, and adding things to our 'regulars' that we never would have guessed we liked!

For whoever's interested, here's a little taste of what's been on our menu the last few months, with recipes linked.
(sorry I got lazy and didn't edit these pictures)

Pasta Primavera

Hearty Beef Stew
(it almost got cold enough for this!)

Creamy Mushroom Risotto

Chicken Broccoli stir fry ( a variation from what I normally make)

The Mushroom Soup
photo by The Pioneer Woman

Dinner Rolls (from scratch!)

Pasta Carbonara
Photo and Recipe from The Pioneer Woman & Pastor Ryan, respectively:

Other meals I've made but haven't photographed:

Mandarin Beef Stir Fry
Ginger Peanut Pork
Salmon with Spinach Sauce
Chicken Parmigiana
Fried Zucchini
Chicken Scallopine
Cranberry Chicken Salad
Garlic Chicken stir fry
Roasted Red Pepper Pasta
Rosemary Roasted Pork Tenderloin
Party Pinwheels
Blackberry Cobbler

I promise to do a better job at taking pictures of our food! And then making the pictures look nice.

First Married Christmas: celebrating with the in-laws

2010-02-15T16:14:00.000-08:00

This post got lost in cyber-space! It's been waiting to go up since January 2! Sorry peeps.
I think I was actually waiting for a certain video of a certain cute wiener dog opening her presents, from a certain younger brother in law...whom I won't mention here :-)

We had a fun Christmas celebration the Saturday before Christmas with Eric's family because we left early the next week to IL to see mine.

Eric's mom and I made a big dinner with turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce--the works and enjoyed it at candle light with champagne...

Then we commenced with opening presents--pookie acted as the baby of the family and kept us all amused. She knew which was her present and ripped it and shook until she got to her new toy!

Also some very happy news--I got a new camera! I am so thrilled with it! Most of the photos you see on the blog from here on out were taken on my new Canon Powershot SD 780 IS.

After gifts, a new family tradition was started of playing board games during our Christmas celebration (before video games).
After a couple rounds of Fact or Crap, the boys got into the new video games and I cuddled with Pookie on the couch.

Later we broke out some sweet home videos.
It was a fun relaxing evening to kick off our Christmas celebrations!

New Year

2010-02-04T18:26:00.000-08:00

For weeks before the holidays I had begun planning a big New Year's bash to top all others, hoping many of our local friends (that don't usually make plans) would be available.
Due to the busyness of the holidays, and my lack of foresight with invitations....by the time I actually got the word out, most people we had planned on being guests had made plans elsewhere.

A few of our good friends were able to make it, though Thomas had to leave for work at 11:40pm. We rang in the new year a bit early, but it was a good time!
We played Eric's new card game, Bang, and watched the countdown via you-tube from NYC's ball drop. It was a laid-back New Years and Eric has finally convinced me that it is an over-rated holiday! I do miss the New Year's Day family parties though!

The spread:

Bacon wrapped water chestnuts (pre-cooking)

cream cheese veggie rolls

mint chocolate dipped milanos and peppermint merinques

Cran-tinis

Decor:

and friends:

What more could we ask for?

Christmas catchup and Gesch-ness.

2010-02-03T14:58:00.000-08:00

Sorry I've been such a slacker. But it's not until I stop writing on this blog that I actually find out there are people reading it! I think I changed the commenting function to allow anyone to comment. So I hope to hear from all you lurkers that read this!

Grammy and Gramps just left after visiting for a week. We had a great time with them! I'll post about the week they were here once I'm caught up on the month of January.

The perfect end to our Christmas vacation was a couple of days spent with good friends.
We met up with the G-unit at Covenant OPC and headed up to WI for a couple days of fun in the snow.

Interestingly enough, Eric and Alex received the same gift for Christmas (both unrequested by them). We spent the evening playing card games, eating and lounging:

The next morning the boys went out hunting

And I stayed in with the girls and helped prep for the big Gesch family BUNCO night, scheduled around our visit :-)
Witness the best layered dessert i've ever made or eaten. It's way to good not to share in it's full glory.
I call it light, fluffy, chocolately, yummy trifle.

First you layer 1/2 pkg lady fingers (miniature angel food cake treat) then drizzle with 1/4 c milk

then spread 1/4 of a mixture of 2 pkgs devils food chocolate pudding prepared and cream cheese

a 1/4 package of cool whip.

and a layer of 8 crushed oreos

If i was more of a perfectionist, I would have tried to make the layers look nicer, but I think messier taste better in this instance

Repeat layer 4 times, and admire results. (then put in fridge out of sight, and lick spatula and eat oreos to resist digging in prematurely)

Thank you for drooling with me on this Wednesday afternoon.

The birds are drooling too.

We stopped for lunch at a classic Sheboygan diner, Schultz's, for some chili, onion rings, steak sandwiches and burgers

And on our way back we stopped at the thrift store to pick up some crazy gifts for BUNCO night

When we got back, Caitlin and Wil has arrived. I was thrilled to be united with my Caiters and we're so glad they made the 6 hour journey from MI to see us and the Gesches for a couple days.

More card-playing ensued complete with inappropriate references:

real shells for bullet life points

lots of happiness to see friends again:

and a gorgeous sunset

Then it was time for BUNCO!
Which I failed to take any pictures of because I was busy holding someone else's baby and getting all the cuddling out of my system. Alex's family is funny and sweet and we had a blast playing the game, but it was even funnier to see all the gag gifts for the winners!

The next morning we all had to head out after lunch, so we took a lovely winter hike on the Gesch property and discovered an iced over pond

I looked at this picture and thought I looked so out of place in winter! I don't remember what it's like to bundle up!

curling

throwing things:

Our final destination in WI was Gibbsville Cheese--we couldn't very well leave WI without a taste of it's most famous products!

Goodbye Wisconsin! We miss you, but we'll be back some day.

First Married Christmas: Midwest, part 2

2010-01-06T10:25:00.000-08:00

Before we knew it, we were waking up at the ridiculous hour of 6am Christmas morning so we could fit in present opening before church. (oh wait, that was just me because I wanted to get my shower in before the masses woke up). I succeeded, but everyone else rolled out of bed immediately prior to these photos, so I'll apologize for them and to them for sharing :-)

Our third Christmas, but the first we've spent together!

We kiddos went in and got my dad a TomTom GPS

the only picture of my brother turned out horribly, so I won't share.

We had my mom's parents and brother/sister-in-law over for Christmas dinner and Kelsey jetted off to be with her new fiance's family, so it was a pretty calm Christmas day.

After an enormous Christmas dinner, my brother fell asleep with Tyson, one of our family dogs, and I couldn't resist the photo op.

We spent the afternoon playing games, chatting and lounging
How cute are Eric and my grandpa?

On Saturday, it was another family party with my dad's extended family so we could see them (this is usually a new year's deal, but they rearranged it for us.

Loads more food (I'm a bad blogged and took no food photos!) and Eric taught the cousins how to play the games he got for Christmas

I have no idea why my sister is wearing her volleyball jersey...and take no responsibility..

It was nice to see the family and be at 'home' for a few days, but we realized quickly we didn't have nearly enough time to do anything but see family (no seeing the city or most friends this trip!)

First Married Christmas: A trip to the snowy midwest

2010-01-04T22:30:00.000-08:00

I left work a little early on Tuesday to head back "home" to IL

We were both nervous about the weather and delays so we arrived to the airport 2 + hours early. The early bird adage proved true as we were able to slip on a direct flight that left 1 hr 45 min earlier than our scheduled (and then delayed) flight. We arrived at 10pm instead of nearly midnight!

And then the family madness began!

Family Christmas photos are pretty generic and boring unless you're in the photos, so for the immediate family...I'll be uploading all the holiday photo to the share site!)
Christmas eve:
We (20-something of us) opened gifts

ate

played games

and participated in the annual grab bag Christmas game (this year's theme was weight related...each gift has to be 2+ pounds!)

some $10 joys

and $10 sorrows

and lots of friendly thieving

It was so good to see my big family again :-)

First Married Christmas: Decor

2010-01-02T21:27:00.000-08:00

Due to other monetary priorities, we didn't put up a tree this year. Which was a little bit sad, but since we were gone the whole week of Christmas and surrounded by our parents' amply laden trees, I got over it.

I got my fix when we helped decorate Eric's parents' tree when Ryan got home from school.

I'm looking forward to next year's decorations though, because we were gifted with lots of ornaments over the holidays!

A few from Eric's mom...the leaning tower of Pisa memorializing out Italy honeymoon and a frame for one of our honeymoon photos!

a darling snowman ornament I bought from Kohls

As we bought or recieved ornaments I set them out on our fireplace.

from grandma B.

from 'grandma' G.

german ornaments from friends

the gift 'wrapping" of a gift card exchange

I used several coupons and Kohl's cash to purchase a few decorations including this snowflake candle set and holder.

I also purchased several sets of silver and red ball ornaments and displayed them on our mantle in an antique silver dish I purchased from the thrift store.

and used a string of lights from our wedding to decorate the mantle

the stockings were bought on after-Christmas clearance last year.
Here's the display all together.
I think it ended up kind of tacky, but we'll be prepared for our first tree now!

First Married Christmas: Cards!

2009-12-18T08:32:00.000-08:00

I'm hoping that most of you have received your Christmas cards from us by now...and if you haven't--my apologies!

I realized about half way through the process that this project was becoming wedding invitation scale...and I didn't have the time or the cash money to do that. (but Paper Source was calling my name)
SO I chopped the list after sending out approximately 55 Christmas cards. yipes.

I took a lovely shopping trip with a friend, Kylee, to Paper Source last month. It's the first time I've been to the store and i was in love! I spent a bit more money than planned but also got some supplies that will last me a while!

Supplies:
Cherry Blossom and Merry Christmas stamps from Paper Source
3 10 packs of khaki cover weight paper
6 10 packs of red envelopes
1 roll + 1 sheet of wrapping paper
70 4 x 6 collage photo prints, trimmed to 4 x 5.4
red ink pad
glue stick
homemade envelope liner template

And yes, i realize that a couple's first Christmas cards are a prime place to show off all those wonderful wedding portraits...but we also went to Italy this year and we wanted to include both!

[By the way, if you're really interested in seeing all of our wedding and honeymoon photos you may have to come and visit in about 3 months when I have the albums finished!]

As I was stamping, gluing and cutting, (and Eric was studying)

I watched some Christmas classics [any guesses?]

And here are the results!

Even on this blog, got to protect the privacy. :-)

First Married Christmas: Baking!

2009-12-16T14:34:00.000-08:00

I have so much more to post about when I have a camera!

Between borrowing a camera from work over the weekend, and finding Eric's old camera...we're making do (for now. a camera is still on my Christmas list!)

Last week I had two seminary wives over, Kelli (from DeMotte, IN!) and Rosanna(from Alberta/B.C. Canada) to do some christmas baking.

We had a blast and make dozens and dozens of goodies in 5 hours.

butter cookies:

kelli loved making them with the cookie shooter from Gram

While Rosanna worked on the gingersnaps. Oh heart. I love gingersnaps. Crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside. Spice enough to woo a girl. yummo.

And here's what my kitchen looked like all night:

coconut balls, fannie mae mint bards, almond bars, cookies. We had quite the spread!

disclaimer: this was taken after 11pm on a work night...after 5 hours of baking. The b&w will soften the blow.

DIY Decor: Bedroom

2009-12-15T09:37:00.000-08:00

This concludes last month's little house projects, but I have one more to share with you.

About the same time I picked up the fabric for this project and this project, I also purchased some Asian-looking fabric that correspond with the blues and grays theme in our bedroom, while adding an element of red. I wasn't sure how it was all going to end up, but I just bought for a rainy day.

A few weeks ago, I visited the local Goodwill and picked up some cheap frames (6 for around $10) and a can of black spray paint.

Unfortunately, I didn't take any before pictures...so I'll just list the steps and then show you the result!

I sanded down all the frames and spray painted them with three coats of paint over two days. While they were drying, I ironed the fabric and cut it around the cardboard backing.

Instead of tacking the fabric down (the cardboard was too thin) I just taped the back, placed it in the frame, then replaced the backing.

Here is how one turned out:

and how they look in our bedroom! (they slight crookedness in this picture has been all adjusted...I promise it's not as bad as it looks!)

I love having something on our bedroom walls!

While I'm at it...

2009-12-12T11:03:00.000-08:00

I bought a couple of scraps, and used the extra fabric for some bulletin board space on the wall above our little built in kitchen desk.

I bought a set of 4 thin cork boards, and got a 8 x 11 bulletin board from the thrift store and covered them with more material.

Now I use them to hold letters, business cards, coupons, etc at my desk!

(still have plans to paint the frame)

Coming soon: our meager christmas decoration and christmas baking!

DIY Decor: kitchen canvas'

2009-12-11T08:48:00.000-08:00

I'm going to try share these projects one at a time so you can see the progress of turning our little [rental] house we love, into a home.

Our budget is minimal, our time is limited, our creativity is lacking, but I'm plugging away!

Shortly after we moved in, we took a trip to Ikea to get bookshelves. While at Ikea I saw an idea in their little room setups that inspired me to decorate our kitchen.

source

So, months later, we visited JoAnn Fabrics and picked out a couple favorites.
We bought three canvas' from Michael's--24 x 32 I believe, and then one smaller one, about 14 x 18.

Here's how make a cheap, easy wall decoration to brighten up any room!

First, iron your fabric

lay the canvas upside down on the upside down fabric and cut roughly with 2-3 inches on each side.

Carefully fold over about 1/2 inch of the fabric

and fold it up to the canvas frame:

Place a thumb tack

The rest is easy...continue folding and tacking about every 3-4 inches.

...until you come to a corner!

By trial and error I figured out the best way to tack the corner so watch carefully:

Take the point of the corner and draw it up directly over the middle of the corner point of the frame

Now take the little flap on the right side and fold it down straight

then fold and pull over the left side straight up as well

and tack at least twice

repeat around all side...making sure to pull the fourth side HARD before tacking up (you want that baby taught)

and this is what you get!

And then repeat all of those steps twice more, hang them on your empty looking kitchen wall, and enjoy some color!

How to make an apple pie:

2009-12-01T13:46:00.000-08:00

Peel 4 apples

and chop

until you get this:

slice each wedge into 3-4 pieces:

pour 1 tbsp of lemon juice over and set aside:

In a separate bowl mix 1 tsp cinnamon, 3/4 c sugar, 2 tbls flour, and a dash of salt

toss with apples

press pie crust into pie pan and flute the edges by pinching a little bit of dough on the outside and pressing your finger in the pinch from the inside

(*secret confession: this is actually my cherry pie crust)

Then blend 1/3 c butter, 1/3 c firmly packed brown sugar, and 2/3 c flour until crumbly.

Pour apple mixture into crust

Followed by crumble topping

Bake at 400 degrees for 40-45 minutes

Enjoy!

For best results, serve warm with a huge scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Happy Belated Thanksgiving from bright and sunny California!

Our Life, according to the crackberry

2009-11-23T08:22:00.000-08:00

I'm embarrassed that my last post was over three weeks ago, but here I am!

Notice anything new around here? I made a new header for the blog last week. It's not much, but it makes this place a little more cheery!

Many of you know that grandma passed away last week, and we were able to fly home for the funeral. A hectic, fun and emotional few days with family and we found ourselves back in the blink of eye still fighting sinuses and sickness.
I have many great memories of special times with her, but one of my favorites was seeing her before our wedding:

I'm glad to have these tangible reminders of great memories!

Here's a little blackberry update of what we've been up to (really hoping for that digital camera!...hint hint.)

Enjoying the sunset and a glass of wine with friends at the Park Manor Hotel rooftop

The only little sprinkle (more like a mist) which produced this rainbow!

The most out-of-this-world frozen yogurt EVER! Pumpkin and vanilla from Rockies.
Come to mama!

Some long-awaited sushi with a new friend! (Eric's friend's fiancee)

Kylee about to enjoy the Rainbow sushi.

On arriving in Chicago in O'Hare Airport, we literally almost ran into Kate Hudson. I recognized her voice, and turned around to see with an entourage. I was too starstruck to get out my blackberry fast enough, and then embarrassed to ask for a pic. But it was definitely her...she was an Oprah guest the next day!

Thrifting with some friends over the weekend. I fell in love with this trunk!

More updates to come soon :-)

Happy Hallowiener!

2009-10-28T07:43:00.000-07:00

this past weekend Eric's mom invited us downtown to Balboa park for the annual dachshund halloween celebration: Hallowiener

Pookie dressed up as a bee, though she refused to wear her antennae, and had fun playing with the other puppies (er, princesses, bananas, pirates and inmates)

We watched the puppy parade--here were some of the cutest costumes:

mailman...see the letters coming out of his pocket?

this little german boy..uh,puppy was too cute!

Some owners even dressed up to match their pooches:

If there was an award to be had, [and I was the judge], these would be the two winners.

This girl made this catdog costume herself! And her dog wore it!

This couple dressed their baby as a monkey and their puppies as bananas.

But pookie didn't stay interested for long:

We also found an adorable black long-haired dachshund that was up for adoption...and we're feeling a little bit sad that our landlords said no pets!

So, from the Chappells...

Happy Halloweenie!!

Weekend Hike

2009-10-23T09:46:00.000-07:00

This whole not having a camera situation is getting a little hard on me!

This weekend's project is to dig up Eric's very old camera to use for the next couple of months.
[ps. this one is on my christmas list!]

This weekend we decided to spend Saturday afternoon at Torrey Pines, which is a state park on the coast with really beautiful hiking trails. Since I don't have any pictures from the day, I'll share with you some pictures of the last time we went to Torrey Pines...spring break 2008!
(although the foliage was much more brown and the fog was heavy this time around.)

house update

2009-10-08T19:09:00.000-07:00

We wish we had more money and time to spend making our house look homey, but for now we have to work with what we have. I'd like to start going to thrift stores/flea markets etc to fill in the gaps...our walls are looking so lonely and with some cooler weather finally coming in, and us looking towards spending a little more time indoors, I'm scouring the internet for cheap decorating ideas.

Here are a couple of our latest couple of projects:

I found a photo in a design book from the library that I'd like to somewhat model this shelving area after (with some modifications to make it less beachy and cluttered)

Here are our living rooms built-in shelves, previously loaded with books: (you saw a little of what it looked like before in this post)

We've got a long ways to go but it's so nice with the books gone! We're thinking of blowing up a honeymoon photo for over the fireplace--any other ideas?

And here's where all the books went. (Billy bookcase system by Ikea...missing the corner brace in this shot)

Eric's study

Farmer's market

2009-10-07T08:48:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Eric's mom and I visited the local farmer's market.
We got adventurous and tried a cactus quesadilla. It wasn't bad...the cactus strips tasted like slimy green beans. Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of it, but it looked something like this:

photo source

I spent less than $10 and got peaches, peppers, radishes, cucumbers, & zucchini....enough veggies to last us a couple weeks!

Thankfully, this was a couple days before the tragic camera incident, so I have some photos to share:

Prickly pears (Jungle Book anyone?)

Bitter Melon. The lady at the booth said people cut it into strips and put it on salads.

I miss the family's garden mucho.

Crazy and yummy flavors of juices! (plus horchata)

Peaches galore

and some lovely orchids

I wish I had a photo to share as well of the pretty autumn bouquet Eric's mom bought me...but our camera broke before I got one of it arranged in a vase. It included sunflowers and dahlias in yellows and reds.

It finally cooled down this week (in the mid 60's) which was a welcome surprise. I'm craving pumpkin everything and hope to pick some up in the next week or two :-)

First thing on the menu: homemade pumpkin spice lattes. Take that, Starbucks!

Life update

2009-10-05T11:41:00.000-07:00

It seems like school started (a month ago already!) and our lives made a sudden turn onto busy street. I'm hoping we're finally settling into a schedule that sticks.
Here are a couple of the highlights from the last month!

Soon into the semester Eric and I realized that he was not going to be able to continue to work as well as fulfill the other responsibilities of class, internship, young peoples, etc...so he turned in his resignation to the travel agency he was working for. This was a big relief for both of us, even though our wallets have tightened up a bit. Eric is able to use that work time to accomplish other things and we're both feeling like we have a little more time for eachother.
We're continuing to lead young peoples on Wednesday nights and are enjoying it. Eric gives the talk about once a month and is going though the book of John. We're also studying Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges and discussing them in small groups. Myself and the wife of another seminary student have been leading the junior and senior girls and have enjoyed getting to know them. (Eric has been leading the senior boys small group)
This weekend was the first session of a bi-weekly Saturday morning women's Bible study led by Mrs. Godfrey (the wife of the president of the seminary). We're also studying a Jerry Bridges book, Growing Your Faith. There are about 20 attending, mostly moms of young children, and older women. I"m looking forward to it (And actually enjoying the motivation to get up at 8am on a Saturday!)
Eric and I are auditing the class "Theology of the Sacraments" at WSC and are learning a lot about the history of baptism (primarily) and the Lord's supper from the early church to present time. It's been really interesting and enlightening so far, but we're both glad we don't have to write the 15-20 page paper at the end of the semester! It's amazing how little I know about the sacraments after 21 years in the church.
We had a couple of Eric's friends from seminary over for dinner the week before last. It wasn't a flawless dinner, but I think the guys appreciated a home-cooked meal, and it was fun having them over. We're hoping to have a few seminary students and couples over for dinner this coming Sunday. I love hostessing, but it still takes so much energy, and I'd really like our house to be in better shape before we make a habit of it. Luckily, most of our friends are either poor sem. students or poor newlyweds, so they're not very judgmental :-)

Anyway, that's life for us right now! I have a bunch of posts planned this week to catch up, than hopefully I can stay on top of it.

Also, this is a picture free post because last weekend, my camera fell off the desk in the kitchen and broke. I can't get it to turn on at all. I don't think it's worth fixing as it is almost 2.5 years old...unfortunately, our budget isn't allowing a replacement right now...and my picture-obsessed self is suffering (it broke not an hour before we had a grogeous double rainbow!) Christmas idea....*hint hint*

2009-10-04T21:08:00.000-07:00

Several weeks ago we hosted our church's young peoples at the house. About 30 kids came over and 5 leaders (plus us) squeezed into rows of chairs around the bonfire.

Eric remembered the famous Gesch nacho dip (I was previously unfamiliar with it), so we took the opportunity to make it for this night. 4 ingredients + a few minutes in the microwave = some very happy kids (Eric included)

So here's the recipe:
half a block of velveeta cheese cut into cubes
1 package of cream cheese cut into cubes

place them in a 9 x 9 pan or casserole dish

pour 1 can of hormal chili with no beans over the cheese cubes
pour 3/4 bottle of picante over cheese and chili
(forgot to take a picture of this step)

Microwave for 3 minutes, stir, and microwave 2 more minutes, until all cheese is melted.

dip and enjoy :-)

Here's a blurry picture of some of the kids over sitting around our fire pit.

and standing over on the back patio by the food.

the end result of the dip?

yum, yum.

Hot and Homesick

2009-09-24T21:01:00.000-07:00

We've been too busy to blog, which means we have lots to blog about. I'm going to try to be better about that this week...I have a bunch of pictures waiting to be blogged!

I'm feeling a little lonely for home this week as I realize how much I'm missing this weekend.

1. The annual Convenant fall conference is always a favorite. Eric took me to my first one with Dr. Hywel Jones (a WSC professor) on our second date. We really miss our Covenant family and Pastor Wright's preaching.

2. The annual home varsity volleyball tournament. I haven't missed one in 5 years...and it's the last year I'll have a sibling playing in it. I'm sure my whole family will be too busy with it all weekend to even notice this post, but in case they do--I wish I was there!

3. The Elim Dutch Fest. I've missed a few of these since they started, but there's something about the annual nod to my dutch heritage by pigging out on olie bollen, buying a year's worth of almond paste, and watching the klompenmakers, or whatever they're called. Obviously I'm about a 6th generation dutch girl :-) Maybe I can convince some of the dutchwomen around here (there are so much more of them than I realized) to teach me how to make stroopwafels.

Lastly, fall is my favorite season--and it just doesn't feel a bit like fall. There are no leaves changing color, and no reason to wear a sweater--September is actually the hottest month of the year.
Check out this forecast (that temp is at current time--9pm!)

I know this may feel like gloating--but really it's not. I promise to try to be more appreciative of the warmth, but I would love one day that would at least merit wearing pants! (please send one day of rain, midwest!)

In honor of hot-tember...I made myself a chai milshake (in lieu of a hot chai), and turned up the air conditioner. I can almost feel fall...

Labor Day

2009-09-12T15:21:00.000-07:00

We had a little shin-dig at our house on Monday (only 1/4 of the guests we had over this week!)

Just 10 friends over for a little barbeque. barbecue. bbq. [whatever.]

I decided that I love entertaining...because it forces me to do a super clean of the house in a short period of time. If only I was cleaning like that weekly! Anyway, now I feel more motivated to do so.

Eric was in charge of grilling, and all the rest of the guys were in charge of supervising the grilling.

We only lost one burger, and had to replace to propane tank. NO explosions, so we considered it a success.

(L to R: Bill, Tiddo (fixing the problem), Luke, Thomas and Eric)

Our part of the food was easy (meat, beer and margaritas!)--everyone else brought yummy dips, salads and desserts to share. We ate and chatted around the bonfire, but the night ended early because it was a work/school night.

The ladies:

Dyan, Alieda, Adrienne, and Alicia

Nice to have a day off of work, and a relaxing evening with friends (even though it was getting a little chilly. 70 degrees!) :-)

Places to put our things

2009-08-31T17:31:00.000-07:00

It was a big weekend in casa chappell. We went organizational furniture shopping.

[Organizational Furniture: a term used to describe furniture that helps you get your stuff in order. Examples: bookshelves, TV stands, dressers, cabinets, etc.]

I'm happy to report our trip[s] were a big success, and we are on our way to some serious home organization. Yippee!

The last two days, Eric has spent lots of time on the living room floor making something of this, and things like it.

Our first project was the TV stand. Our tv has looked like this for the last two months

ed note: this photo was taken while Eric assembled the stand. We both deeply regret the waste of this 2 hours of our lives, but will never make the same mistake again. Please don't watch this movie. It will make you want to puncture your ear drums and pluck out your eyeballs. It was painfully awful.

Anyway, by the end of the evening, we were pleased display our old tv on this beauty! (and the OCD in me is trying not to wince at the clash of woodgrain.)

Our next purchase was the biggie...a DRESSER!
I think Eric let me buy this just so I would stop sighing deeply and frustratedly every single time I walked into our bedroom. We had NO place to put our clothing for the last two months.

So Saturday afternoon, I picked up this:

and these:

and folded them nicely and place them in this!!:

isn't she a beauty? We bought her on clearance from a local furniture store because there is a piece of wood gouged out from the bottom left side of the dresser. When the dresser is laying on our (kind of) shaggy carpet, it's almost undetectable. I'm trying to think of a name for her, so let me know your suggestions.

Anyway, this dresser was the highlight of my weekend, and yes--I will eventually put a picture of us in that empty frame. *sigh*. (that's a happy, contented sigh this time)

Lastly, Eric's piece of organizational furniture--bookshelves!!

I can't tell you how many books we already own between the two of us (Eric's library makes up at least 80% though). It's over 500, I think. We knew we didn't want to display only books on our shelf wall in the living room, but wanted to keep it open looking. (More on this to come.) So that's a loss of some book shelving space.

Eric had seen a bookshelf system at IKEA that had a piece that worked for corners. (space saving) We decided it was perfect for his office.

(photo taken at ikea)

Unfortunately, it was not a perfect fit for our little honda. In order to take it home, we ended up having to open up the trunk, recline my seat and push the shelves halfway onto the passenger seat. I spent half the drive sitting indian style with my back to the side door, facing Eric, and the other half hunched under the bookshelves. I'm sorry I don't have a picture. it was quite uncomfortable.

It turned out to be well worth it. The nice thing about IKEA furniture is that it's easily added onto. We can triple the amount of book shelf space by buying just a couple additional pieces. We'll see how far this gets us for now.

I'm planning to count and catalogue all of our books before reshelving and then I'll show you the final product.

until next time, thanks for coming all with me on the organizing adventure :-)

Wedding photos!

2009-08-27T09:01:00.000-07:00

Out photographers recently sent us this video slide show they put together of our "first look" pictures and bride and groom portraits.

The slide show is set to our first dance song, Let It Be Me by Rosie Thomas.

Hope you enjoy...I've watched this more times than I care to admit!

The First Look- Katie & Eric from Sara Mannino on Vimeo.

Twilight: The Dawn of Dismal Writing

2009-08-15T20:04:00.000-07:00

(Preface: If you are a 14-year-old girl or enjoyed Twilight, do not read this post.)

I seldom am on top of my cultural game. It took the final release of the seventh Harry Potter installment for me to read Rowling's heptology. I wasn't interested in The Sopranos till it was in its 5th year. We just started watching LOST in lieu of its last season. In the past, the more popular a novel/TV show/film is, the less likely I am to go see it until it has been tested and approved from a variety of sources. In my efforts to be more culturally with-it, I have been trying to better keep up with the new releases. I should have known better after reading William Young's The Shack, but I fell for it again; although this time I wasn't caught reading a poorly written piece of heresy, but rather a poorly written teen-romance in the facade of a horror novel.

Stephenie Meyer's novel (if it can even be called that), Twilight, is everything that Bram Stoker's Dracula, R.L. Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and E.A. Poe is not, i.e. good horror fiction.

If you haven't read the book (and I strongly encourage avoiding it), the plot basically follows the "dramatic" life of a typical high-school aged girl, Isabella Swan, who moves from sunny Phoenix, AZ to the dreary, rainy, small town of Folks, WA. She ends up meeting a strange group of kids at high school who turn out to be a family of ancient vampires. These vampires have learned to assauge their bloodlust by hunting big game in the forests of the northwest while living peaceably among an unknowing human public. She falls for Edward Cullen, one of the leaders of the coven, who is torn between dating Bella and sucking her blood. Over one too many chapters where Meyer continues to re-hash a poor high-school love story, the two characters must learn to deal with each other on unequal footing, wrestling with the choice to taste of the forbidden fruit of their unnatural and forbidden love. Without too many spoilers, a group of human-blood-thirsty vampires discover Bella and a chase ensues that lands Bella in a hospital with a raging desire to become a vampire herself (I didn't even see it coming...).

The book sucked, for many reasons. But here are just the lowlights. First, the opening page is a quote from Genesis 2:17 which is the LORD's commandment to Adam and Eve not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. You can only copy/paste a Scripture quote at the beginning of a book if your story deals with themes that are of biblical proportions. Stoker is allowed this; Meyer...not so much. The quoting of Scripture at the beginning gives her book a weight which the plot and the characters cannot bear resulting in completely failed expectations.

Then, the preface starts with a young girl near death who is in the presence of a vampire ready to kill her. Obviously, this is near the climax of the book. But when the climax comes, Bella faints giving us no indication of a wicked vampire fight scene that occurs between her hunter and her lover. We get absolutely no details, only who comes out on top. What this does for the reader is build our suspense to the brink only to give us no satisfaction. Reading the book is like winding a broken Jack-in-the-Box, you turn and turn...and nothing happens.

I could talk about the utter lack of depth to these characters till I am blue in the face, but I will mention just one aspect of this story that kept coming back to annoy me again and again. The main character, Bella, is an average girl. She appears normal. She does normal things. While we are given no detail at all about what she is like, other than that she can't dance, we do find out she is incredibly able to somehow accept the existence of supernatural creatures in our reality. The reason why Harry Potter works and Isabella Swan does not (on at least one level), is that the existence of magic and a supernatural reality explains things about Harry's world, about who he fundamentally is. Hogwarts gives Harry answers that the Muggle world could never answer for him. But nothing is enhanced by Isabella's discovery of a supernatural reality. She just accepts it and continues drooling over a hot guy. If Isabella is a normal girl, she wouldn't be able to believe in the existence of vampires. Her culturally, scientifically-driven mind wouldn't allow for it. I consider myself normal, but if I came across a vampire, I would try and find a million reasons to explain its existence other than it actually being a vampire. The problem with Bella is there is no fear, no disbelief, no awe in the face of the supernatural, only a superficially-driven crush over a guy's good looks and unnatural skill set. The existence of the vampires does nothing to the plot, it is merely tacked on as a device to sell books in the guise of something interesting.

Along with Bella's unbelievable acceptance of an unbelievable reality, Meyer's characters do not progress or develop in the least. There are no moral dilemmas that result in deeper understanding of the ethical complexities of life, no development, no growth. It's just a silly girl who keeps commenting on the sweet coldness of her vampire boyfriend's breath as it touches her lips and complains because he won't do what she wants and change her into a vampire.

The obvious problem with the book is its author. Stephenie Meyer is a romance writer trying to pass her self off as someone who cares about vampires. Unfortunately, no attention is given to vampire myth. Instead, we are inundated with insipid melodrama and banal attempts at sentimentality. I don't mean to keep coming back to the Potter books, but they remain a good way to gauge over what is good popular fantasy, and what is just pure crapola. Meyer's pathetic attempt to rival Rowling's Quidditch is a contrived vampire parallel that falls flat on its face only extending the length of an already anticlimatical plot.

The entire time I read this book (post-film release), I felt like I was reading a poor movie-to-book script. It is no wonder that it took Meyer several tries and a low-rent, b-list publisher to publish this piece of trash. The only thing that kept me reading was the hope that either Blade or Buffy would come on stage and end this literary shenanigan with a stake to the heart.

strawberries, webcam, and the weekend.

2009-08-14T11:44:00.000-07:00

I have been buying pints of strawberries every single grocery shopping trip. (yumm, cheap California strawberries) I'm not quite ready to start making jam or anything serious, but we have been having tons of strawberry brown sugar toast! [the boss family will know what I'm talking about:-)] Eric saw me make it one morning for breakfast and has been hooked ever since. But he wants to know, Grammy, does it have an actual name??

I got a web cam while Eric was gone last weekend (story to come). It was on sale at Target and looks like this:

It's pretty tiny (maybe 3/4 inch by 2 inches?). I wanted it in red or blue, but all they had left was black. Who wants to video G-chat with me? anyone?

Also, this weekend we [tentatively] plan to:

Grocery shop with a meal plan for the week (thanks mom and mrs. G, for setting the example on this. I hate deciding dinner on my way home from work only to find I don't have any of the ingredients I need!)
Start sorting books (our living room has looked a little bit like this for over a month, hence, no pictures of our house yet)
shop for bookshelves (Eric want this corner bookcase or something like it)
get my computer fixed!
go through more honeymoon pictures!

Here's a glimpse from the first day in Italy:

just a little update from Casa Chappell :-)