Baby Fruit the Explorer

Today I picked up Baby Fruit and we took a trip to the park. I love that she lives so close, that I can stop by and see her whenever I want and whisk her away to play. I have really been noticing a move to more independence, she is getting so adventurous.



and bit by bit today she tackled the stairs to the jungle gym.



She is getting so BIG and was on the top of the world when she finally reached the top.



And then today, after spending 30 minutes practicing over and over again she finally slid down the slide all by herself. I could not have been prouder.



She spent a lot of time exploring, aka attempting and sometimes succeeding putting things in her mouth.



I tried to explain that it was not really sanitary and I could tell she totally got it because from that point on she only put things near her mouth when I was looking. And she has an impish smile on her face as if to say “Go on I dare you, tell me not to”.

But my favorite thing about her exploring is her desire to show me everything she finds.



And then to bring these little treasures back to me. It could be ANYTHING, a pretty rock, a random piece of wood, a dried up leaf or even this seed pod. It does not matter what it is but I love she has brought them all to me.



Her little hands are always busy and she is coming up with her own little games. I particularly liked the way she was finding random bits of wood to stick into the holes on the steps. She was giggling gleefully every time she got one to stick.



Of course the jungle gyms appeal only lasted so long before she was sitting and playing in the dirt.



What is it with babies and dirt they just LOVE the stuff.



And it is even better once a friend comes along.



This little boy is only about six months older than Baby Fruit and they had so much fun together; equally sharing the task of getting dirty, of imagination and hugs.



That is until Baby Fruit got a bit TOO curious about this little boy. His aunt and I were in tears laughing at this.



We spent a few moments on the swing before leaving. It is her cue that it is time to go and it is one of her favorite things so we save the best for last.



I put Baby Fruit down, I gathered up our things and I turned to put her into the stroller when I about fell down laughing again. This little girl, she is so much FUN!

Ah the Words Of The Wise

I just found this quote and I love it. It expresses what led me to start writing, why I still right and why I will continue to write.

"To you women of today, who are old or young, may I suggest to you that you write, that you keep journals, that you express your thoughts on paper. Writing is a great discipline. It is a tremendous education effort. It will assist you in various ways, and you will bless the lives of many--now and in the years to come, as you put on paper some of your experiences and some of your musings."

--President Gordon B. Hinckley

Taste Buds: Avocado Key Lime Pie with a Pistachio Crust

Inspired by the avocado addition that worked so beautifully to my Artichoke dip I decided to attempt to use avocado in a Key Lime Pie recipe to make it healthier. After 4 attempts, I made four different mini pies I finally ended up on something that I am happy. A perfect marriage between the OH SO unhealthy key lime pie and the super healthy no sugar added avocado version. SO YUMMY and only 150 calories a serving.

RECIPE: AVACADO & KEY LIME PIE WITH A PISTACHIO CRUST INGREDIENTS Crust 1 ½ cup pistachios ground very fine 3 tablespoons honey 5 graham crackers ground very fine 3 tablespoon melted butter Filling 3 tablespoons milk 4 tablespoons sugar ¼ cup lime juice 2 teaspoons grated key lime zest 2 egg yolks 1 ripe avocado DIRECTIONS 1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees 2. Lightly grease a round pie pan or 4 mini pie pans 3. Mix crust ingredients together until blended well and gently press the mixture into the pie crust pans 4. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown 5. Once crust is finished preheat oven to 350 degrees. 5. Blend egg yolks with beaters. Pour in milk and add avocado and blend well. Add key lime juice and zest and beat for 2 minutes. 6. Pour pie filling into the crust and bake for 15 minutes, do not brown. 7. Chill for at least 6 hours before serving.

Wisdom Nuggets

The people that love you try to help you, I wished I had listened more when I was younger. I had a few conversations this week about advice and things that I wish I would have known sooner, things that I am sure my family and friends tried to teach me but some of which I had to learn the hard way. As I get older my mother gets smarter, I am sure that it is because I listen more. So here they are, the pearls of wisdom that the people who loved me TRIED to teach me and to which I feel like I am still trying to live by.

1. Most talents are transferable find what you are good at and then choose a job that utilizes those talents. If you are good with teaching something you can teach anything, if you are good at being a housewife and juggling children, house duties and organization you can be a CEO. If you don’t like what you do but you are good at it see where your talents can shift to in another career.

2. Never give in. Keep your dream in sight at all times and keep working toward it.

3. Everyone occasionally needs to ask for help or accept help from others. I have always struggled with this. I am a more get everything done kind of person and I adore helping others. It is really hard for me to ask for help and it is something that I need to consciously work toward.

4. Stand up and say what you mean. Don’t couch things behind flowery words and fake smiles because being honest about where you are and what you want is MUCH easier in the long run than hiding behind a façade or ignoring a situation.

5. No one is perfect but there are wonderful people out there to surround yourself with. Find people that inspire you to be better, that you can accept their shortcomings and people that can accept yours.

6. Mean people, liars and cheaters do not change. Get them out of your life, their poison will spread.

7. If you don’t have something nice to say don’t say it at all. Don’t say anything about someone that you will not say to their face with 10 other people listening. Very few people can or will keep secrets (yes there are a few, know who those people are in your life) but better yet stop the negativity. This is something I STILL have a hard time with. Although in the past year I have made huge strides with this. Better to keep those not so nice things to yourself.

8. You are your own best friend. If you can learn to really love yourself, to be alone and be happy, to find interesting things to do without having to drag a million people along with you then you are a treasure. People will disappoint you, the world will change, people will pass but in the end you always have yourself.

Nerdy Birdy: Hummy Huntington Gardens

I went back to the Huntington Gardens today because I found something very special yesterday and I did not have the people or the liberty of time to spend time with it like I wanted. On the way into the gardens yesterday I heard the chirp of a hummingbird and since I am now so sensitive to bird sounds I searched until I found it perched at the end of a branch. At first I thought it was eating honey from a bees nest, it seemed to be pecking this round ball of wood. It was only when I stepped a bit closer, the hummingbird flew off and out popped two tiny heads.



I was ASTOUNDED for one because I had never seen a hummingbird nest before but also because I have never taken photos of a full nest period.



I only waited about five minutes hoping that the mamma bird would come back before I felt the people with me get a bit restless. Birding takes a lot of time and patience; the people with me were not interested. Taking one last shot I walked away reasoning that I could come again tomorrow, alone and wait all day if I needed.



Addendum: My mother made a good point, not many people know just how TINY a little hummingbird nest is. My shots only make it look large because I am using my telephoto lens. I could not climb up there for a comparison so I found this shot to show you just how tiny it is.


PHOTO CREDIT

Ms. Dancer and I returned today and camped out a short distance away. Of course the nest and the baby birds were still there and they were a lot livelier today than yesterday. I even caught this cute shot of one sticking his tongue out.



We sat and waited, the mother returned to the nest often (about every half hour) but she only stayed for moments before zipping off again.



So, we stayed and waited longer; every time I heard her zipping in I would jump up camera in hand to grab the two or three shots I could. I kept watching and repositioning myself hoping to get that perfect shot.



After about an hour and a half we decided to take a break from the nest and head into the actual gardens. Maybe because I was more in-tune with the hummingbirds I kept seeing them everywhere so I spent some time taking photos of some adults perching and singing their hearts out.



And then I got this bird, who let me get SO CLOSE.



But I got a little bored with this. I have gotten to the point where taking photos of stationary birds is almost too easy so I moved onto trying to get bird photos where I get a subject, the right lighting, get the focus right and photo it but move onto REALLY paying attention to the background. A good shot can be ruined by not looking past the subject. I love the twisted branches and blue and green bokeh behind this bird.



But when I found this hummingbird amid a tree of yellow I was in HEAVEN.



Since the flowers were in full bloom we headed to a cluster that I had seen a few adult hummingbirds eating from. I really wanted to take my bird photography and challenge myself which meant ATTEMPTING to get a shot of a hummingbird sipping nectar out of a flower. If you have EVER seen how fast a hummingbird can move then you know that these buggers are FAST and trying to get a photo in focus was a nightmare of technical difficulties.

I took over 350 shots of hummingbirds and most of them ended up looking like a big blurry mess or a game like where’s Waldo. However I was tenacious (350 shots and two hours tenacious) and after several trials and errors I finally started to get the hang of it.

I managed to get one shot, ONE GLORIOUS amazing fabulous shot and I could not be happier.



It makes my heart sing with joy

To put icing on my double decker chocolate cake of a high was on the way out of the park where I stopped at the nest and within 20 minutes managed to get the awesome shots I have been waiting for.

Mama bird landed…



She greeted her babies…



And then she fed… and I got the shot of the nest WITH the mother that I had been hoping for.



It happened in a little less than 30 seconds and I swear I held my breath the entire time. God I love this hobby, when you get a day like today it is super rewarding.

Taste Buds: Apple Cinnamon Breakfast Muffins

I am a girl that loves pancakes and coffee cake on a Sunday morning. Pre-We-Gotta-Change-Our-Eatting-Habbits I would make omelets, bacon, sausage or pancakes; sometimes two of those, and Mr. Rogue and I would have a wonderful lazy Sunday brunch together. Now however we have oatmeal every day, and although I splurge and put raisins and brown sugar in my Sunday oatmeal it does not feel like the brunches we used to have. So with making our Sunday brunch a bit more like brunch I set out to find a healthy way to spice things up. What I came up with is a combination between fatty coffee cake and healthy bran muffins that are OH SO SUPER YUMMY and less than 100 calories a piece.

Sneaking wheat germ into things that you already love gets more fiber in your diet and since plain wheat germ has little taste it is perfect for baking. If you want to sneak a bit in your cooking simply decrease the amount of flour by how much wheat germ you are adding. Make sure not to add too much however, baking is after all chemistry and you want to be careful of upsetting the delicate balance of the recipe.

In this recipe I also cut down the butter in half with a trick my mother taught me. You can substitute apple sauce for butter in many recipes, simply divide the butter or oil in half and replace that same amount with the apple sauce. It’s much healthier!

RECIPE: APPLE CINNAMON BREAKFAST MUFFINS INGREDIENTS 1 medium granny smith 1/2 cup unbleached flour ½ cup wheat flour ¼ teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon ¼ cup butter, at room temperature ¼ cup applesauce ½ cup sugar ¼ cup milk 1 large egg 1 teaspoon vanilla extract ¼ cup raisins DIRECTIONS 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 2. Line cupcake tin with paper liners and set to the side. 3. Peel, quarter and core apples; rough chop the apple into small raisin sized pieces. 4. In a small bowl mix both flours, salt, baking powder and cinnamon. 5. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer beat the butter until smooth. Note if the butter is not at room temperature after beating it will be chunky. If after 3 min of beating it is not smooth then wait 10 minutes and try again. Add the sugar and then beat until fluffy. Beat in milk, eggs and vanilla and beat until combined. Add applesauce and beat until combined. 6. Add prepared flour mixture to the bowl and beat for an additional 4 minutes. 7. Add in apple pieces and raisins and stir with a spatula until combined. 8. Bake for 18-25 minutes until tops are browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out smooth. Serve at room temperature.

Rogue Life List: #15. Kiss Someone I Love Under a Blooming Cherry Tree

Mr. Rogue and I were at the Huntington Gardens today and I jumped ecstatically in the air when I rounded a corner and saw a ton of blooming cherry trees. I have always loved their color and smell. Ever since I saw Memoirs of a Geisha I have dreamed of kissing someone I love under a Cherry tree, hence why this random thing ended up being on my Rogue Life List. Today I got to cross this one off.



“In the end it is not going to matter how many breaths you took, but how many moments took your breath away.”
- Shing Xiong

I Don’t Sweat I Glisten

Mr. Rogue and I ventured out with Mr. & Mrs. Dancer for a day at the Huntington Gardens and it was a perfectly sunny happy fun day. When Mr. Rogue and I saw that the memberships were $20 dollars off we opted to purchase one, it has been something we have been talking about for a while. With both of us being raised outside of a major city there are times when we LONG for scenery other than buildings and concrete. For now Huntington Gardens and hiking are our only day escapes.

Pleasure was not our main goal; the purpose of this visit was to get photos of Mr. & Ms. Dancer for their engagement, something that we have been trying to get done for a while. I was so excited when they asked me to take their photos and I PROMISE once I get permission to show them I will put them up, for now my hands are tied by the soon to be bride.



With spring here everything was budding with new life, the flowers, the birds and I was merrily clicking away photos of Mr. & Ms. Dancer trying to ignore all the rest. At times I got a bit frustrated because I wanted to spend time with certain other subjects but I had to stay true to our ultimate purpose today. Besides now that I have a membership I can go anytime I want for FREE, yippe. And by anytime I mean tomorrow, yes I am going back again tomorrow to take photos of all those shots my heart was yearning to take today but could not. And yes I have to go tomorrow because I am impatient like that.

Mr. Rogue and I reveled in being together and we had such a wonderful time with our friends. Between that and the hours of walking (aka exercise that does not feel like exercise) it was the perfect day.

Best Furry Friends

After living together for years and years they are like an old crotchety couple, well an old gay crotchety couple (they are both boys you know). Picasso I am sure complains about Seurat’s weight gain and the fact that it takes him several hours to drink water, I am serious about the drinking thing see here; Seurat complains about Picasso’s dainty habits, his obsession with his weight and his fastidious cleaning (which is constant). Even with all the complaints they love each other immensely, I am sure that if I was in a world (locked in my house) where there was only one other human to interact with eventually we would become best friends too.

Taste Buds: Artichoke Basil Dip

A spin on the traditional artichoke spinach dip that cuts out more than half the calories with some pretty drastic modifications. It took me quite a few tries to get all the ingredients to blend how I wanted and the result is a remarkably wonderful smooth and creamy dip that is a pretty healthy treat. Paired with fresh veggies for dipping it made the perfect lunch, YUM!

Generally artichoke spinach dip is based off cheese, for my recipe I used silken tofu and avocado to give the creaminess of the cheese without all of the cheese calories. Silken tofu can sometimes be hard to find (I get mine at Trader Joes) you could try a local asian market. If you cannot find silken tofu you can use medium firm but stay away from firm or extra firm the texture makes the dip chunky and it loses that creamy texture.

RECIPE: ARTICHOKE BASIL DIP INGREDIENTS 3 ounces of silken tofu 1 can (14 ounces) water packed artichokes, well drained 2 cloves garlic 3 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese 3 tablespoons grated mozzarella cheese 1 tablespoon mayonnaise 1 tablespoon sour cream ½ ripe avocado 4 large fresh basil leaves salt and pepper to taste DIRECTIONS 1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 2. In a food processor puree the tofu, artichokes and garlic. 3. In a medium bowl using hand held beaters mix together the cheese, mayonnaise, sour cream and avocado until well blended. 4. Stir in with a spatula tofu mixture and finely chopped basil. 5. Pour mixture into an oven safe casserole dish. Bake uncovered for 40 minutes.

CALORIES IN THIS MEAL: 102 per person (1/2 cup per serving)

Photo Phriday: Madrona Marsh

Since I was feeling a bit better I decided to take some time at the park. I saw many birds that I have seen before but still it was a wonderful day spent in the sunshine and I always get excited when I get good shots no matter if I have seen the bird before or not. Here are some of my favorites. Hope you enjoy.

This Say's Phoebe perches, flies off only to come back to his perch again and again. Once I found out where he liked to sit I slowly made my way closer to his perch.


352. SAY'S PHOEBE

I loved the colors and reflections of the water, they seem to almost mimic the bird.


19. BLUE WINGED TEAL

The black phoebe looked at me as I tried to get a bit closer.


350. BLACK PHOEBE

I tried and TRIED to get this damn Mallard to be in the light and facing me but as you can see by the look he is peeking at me he was constantly running away. I loved his blue head and the color of the water together. Maybe another day as he took off right after this shot.


18. MALLARD

The finches were SINGING away. There were so many of them and the air was filled with their constant song.


589. HOUSE FINCH

The Coot looks a bit devilish with his little red eye and red spot on his forhead.


144. AMERICAN COOT

This little Yellow Rumped Warbler stopped mid-song to check me out. He was not scared as he was curious.


YELLOW RUMPED WARBLER

I love me some birds :)

A Large Part of the Bathroom Lodged in My Lung

Last night I was coughing and wheezing, I admit when my husband got home at 11:30pm from work I was a bit crabby. Because we had just started construction and because electricians and plumbers were coming the next day there were things we needed to discuss and decide on so I could relate the answers to the workers. And with me not feeling well the conversations ended up being less like two adults who love each other talking out some problems but rather one person, my husband, trying to deal with a 31 year old toddler. Yes I freely admit I was being a big baby last night.

This morning wasn’t any better, I dragged myself through my morning routine; oatmeal, cut up fruit and a book but I SO still was not feeling well. The house which I had cleaned last night got another layer of fine dust. Sighing to myself I grabbed the bucket of cleaning supplies and started fighting the dust. After 20 minutes I realized I was not winning and that my coughing was getting worse. It dawned on me that I was not feeling well because of all the crap floating around in the air.

I set up the air filter in the family room and ditched the cleaning deciding instead to curl up in bed with a book for a few hours. I will clean when I start to feel a bit better.

I was a Ninja

Or I guess I could say I was dreaming of being a ninja and I was kicking some butt. It was me against seven others; it was a test of my mad ninja skills. I had just taken out five of them and I was contemplating how to beat the remaining two. I was moving in ninja stealth like and then… wha… what was that?!? Normally I have a hard time remembering dreams so vividly however today the doorbell rang at 7:45 and as I proceeded to look at the clock in SHOCK I remembered that the workers were due to come. I stumbled out of bed, threw on something decent all the while grumbling that my sensay was not going to be pleased those last two escaped unscathed.

We Broke Ground… or tile, I am not really sure exactly how you say it, how about several workers showed up at my house today to completely destroy our bathroom. Don’t worry it needs to be destroyed it is a huge BLEMISH on the face of the planet, remember the pink and blue tile, the boat mirror and the fact that I can go to the bathroom and brush my teeth at the same time? Say bye-bye.



Midway through the work the guys took their lunch break and I peeked inside and then almost lost my cool. The twitching in my right eye started (it is a stress tick I have) because I was remembering the last horrid time we went into construction and my house looked like this for MONTHS!



But then the workers came back and cleaned it all up so I was happy. I now longer have a second bathroom. Yup that’s right, the workers showed up at 7:45am and now at 4:45pm there is now a gaping wound of exposed studs and electrical wires in my house. It is amazing how fast the work goes once it actually starts.



Although I am ecstatic that it is gone and the work has been started I am not so happy with the inevitable side effects. Side effects that I had to deal with last time we did construction but that I must have conveniently erased from my conscious memory. For instance my entire living room and kitchen is dusted with a fine layer of grit and grime, fine particles that have escaped the plastic over the bathroom door and have found homes elsewhere. Right now they are having a party, inviting friends and plotting to make my life hell.

The moment the workers left I just stared at my filthy home. You see the workers kindly placed a newspaper path on the hardwood floor so they would not ruin it walking into and our of the house with all that trash. When they left they removed that newspaper and left a perfect clean path amist all the dirt.



My brain almost exploded, I did not know where to start and I was paralyzed trying to figure out weather I should dust first or sweep. Seven hours later my home is now clean just in time for round two tommorow.

So now instead of fighting ninjas I will be fighting the never-ending dirt in my home.

A Rant about Health Care Reform

I support Obama, I like him despite the fact that there are things he does that I do not like but I waited watching what would happen to health care reform.

I was really hoping that this bill would pass as I think SOMETHING has to be done with our current health care system. Too often you hear of people unable to get the coverage they need for yards and yards of red tape. There has been too many times where we as a family were challenged on major medical issues because of coverage and cost. Perhaps if the system had been better two years ago things would have turned out differently. Bottom line is that the system is screwed as it is.

Now I don’t think this bill is perfect, in fact I think there are a lot of flaws with it but what I do like is that my parents who are retired will be able to have health care for much less than they are paying now. I like that my cousin who has type 1 diabetes and who currently is paying a fortune for crappy insurance will be able to get cheaper better coverage. And I love the fact that if something terrible happened to me my insurance company would no longer be able to put a cap on or stop my coverage. To me these things mean the world.

So three people I love dearly, if the bill stays past November, will be greatly affected by this bill. My family is living proof that this bill will make some things better. And then there are the millions of other Americans who will join them.

I am eagerly anticipating watching how this bill lives and affects us, already there are many challenges with it as well as many opposing it. For all those against it I ask can you make it better?

A Little Pittsburgh Night

Since I dropped off Ms. Little a bit earlier than I expected yesterday and found myself with some free time I called Ms. Dancer. We ended up going to dinner at a little sushi place near her house and spend the next two hours talking about her upcoming wedding and all the little bumps and twists our relationship has taken. I love this girl as if she were a sister!



After dinner we decided to catch a movie. We went to the Pacific Theater in downtown Culver, it was my first time visiting this particular theater and although I had been to downtown Culver often I had always missed seeing an incredible art instillation. Tucked around the corner out of sight is The Lion’s Fountain by Douglas Olmsted Freeman. It was so beautiful that we stopped to look for several minutes. At night with the water fountains low and the lights shimmering, hugged by a crescent moon of leaves the statue shined with life. And the gentle clapping of the water falling on the stones sounded like applause from my heart.



That’s what I love about LA, there is always something around the corner just waiting to be discovered.

Ms. Dancer and I proceeded to the theater where we decided to see She’s out of my League. Now this is not my normal kind of movie because it is a slapstick movie and I am not a huge fan of fart jokes and constant cussing. Slapstick movies in general all seems very juvenile and makes me feel like I wasted two hours of my time watching something dumb. However with that being said there are a few select movies that I have seen that fall into the slapstick category that I like and I knew when I saw the previews for this movie I wanted to give it a shot. I think Ms. Dancer and I got more than what we were looking for.


IMAGE CREDIT

Not only did we have a ton of fun laughing at all the antics in the movie we also found out that the movie was based in Pittsburgh. Ms. Dancer and I both lived in Pittsburgh for 7 years, so peppered into an entertaining movie was a lot of Pittsburgh nostalgia. And oh how we sighed and exclaimed at some of the scenes that we missed about Pittsburgh.

For instance there was a scene where the couple was talking on a bench and in the background was Primanti Brothers, a restaurant that serves hands down the BEST sandwich in the world. A sandwich invented for the steel factory workers that is stacked with meat, coleslaw, cheese and French fries it is a sandwich that is a meal. My mouth was watering! Sadly enough I think that out of everything from Pittsburgh it is what I missed the most, well the sandwich and Ms. Pool Shark.



I know for anyone who has never had this sandwich that it may look a bit gross but I ASSURE you it is divine!