Hurl Party

Last night we went to an art opening at the new Hurley headquarters gallery space and had a lot of fun. The Kogi korean bbq truck was there, as was Longboards, a mobile gourmet ice cream truck! We lingered around it at closing and they gave us free ice creams! We had a hook up though (thanks Annie!) so that also helped. We got cookies n' cream bars dipped in milk chocolate and rolled in Oreo cookie bits. It was the best. Gourmet ice cream trucks should be everywhere. And so should hula hoops. I don't feel as guilty devouring that ice cream bar because I did my 20 minutes of hula hooping that evening. Annie, again the coolest, gave Jeff and me bedazzled hula hoops as housewarming gifts (she makes them). How cool is that? It's actually a really good workout. Annie said her friend lost 15 pounds of a beer gut hula hooping with one she made him so Jeff is becoming a hula hooper. He's pretty funny to watch. I'm a girl so hula hooping is natural (the birthing hips keep the hoop up) but boys take a little extra effort. Example:

Piece of cake. This is me at like minute 18. Here's Jeff:

Ooh. False start. #32. Not for a lack of effort, the boy just doesn't know how to shake those hips. He finally got the hang of it though.

Look how proud he is! New favorite activity. If you come to the housewarming party next weekend, expect hula hooping contests.

So back to the show. It was really neat, the featured artist, Mike Stilkey, painted on stacked books that were donated for the show. There were two huge pieces, probably like 12 feet tall, and a bunch of smaller pieces. Again, no pictures of me because Jeff is selfish and only likes pictures to be taken of him. Here he is with Mark Bodnar, a really great artist. I want one of his pieces. 

Check out Mandy's new hair cut! Awesome.

Thank God this piece had already sold by the time we got there, otherwise our bank account would have been $1200 shorter this morning.

Gardening is HARD!

Our housewarming party is next Saturday (we tried to invite everyone via email and facebook and in person, but know we didn't reach everyone, so if you feel slighted, COME! We want you there, promise.) so we're trying to get those last projects somewhat done. Top on my list was getting our raised vegetable garden started. The area that we want to put it though looked like this at the beginning of the week:

Now after weeding by Jerod, Mandy, Jeff, and I, it looks like this:

Not bad, but we still can't put the bed there quite yet. I sprayed a bunch of cinnamon smelling eco-friendly weed killer over the roots of what we couldn't pull out, and then we're planning on putting down that weed barrier cloth (that allows drainage) and covering the non-bed area with mulch. Hopefully that will stop the weeds but we'll see. It's a learning process. 

This picture makes it look like Jerod and Jeff did all of the work while Mandy and I watched and drank beer, but no one was taking pictures of Mandy and me at Lowe's lugging 2x6x8' redwood boards onto a crappy cart that barely moved. We worked too. The dismembered Wedding Yeti did nothing but harbor spiders.

Ta-DA!!! One 4x8' vegetable garden bed, ready to be turned upside down and filled with nice loamy soil and seeds. I'm hoping next weekend we'll get to do that. Jerod is going to help us build a drip irrigation system for it too! I promise if you come to our housewarming party, I'm not going to make you help me weed and plant stuff. Probably.

TOMS wedges!

I love the idea behind TOMS shoes (buy a pair and they give a pair to a needy child) but the flats look like your feet are wrapped in mummy bandages. They just came out with a new wedge style though and I tried them on yesterday at American Rag. They were sooo comfortable, they have a little of a platform so the arch isn't too extreme and they're peep toe so your toes aren't crammed in. I loved them but they didn't have the half size I needed so I ordered them online. It ended up being the same amount as in American Rag with their markup, I just wish I had them right away!

My type of bouquet...

Love everything in it. Billy balls, scabiosa pods, lambs ear, ranunculas... gah!

via Style Me Pretty...

Mockingbird

The piano is done! Jeff has been working on this sucker for over 5 months now and all that is left is a coat of clear varnish to seal her up. I think it is SO RAD. Just amazing. It belongs to Joe Hahn (of Linkin Park) so you won't be seeing it in our house, but hopefully it will be featured on a couple of blogs and maybe even a magazine. You can see more pics on Jeff's blog, www.thurnobulax.blogspot.com.  

Orzo with roasted vegetables

This is the best dish ever. Everyone should make it and love it. My mom passed the recipe to me and I make it a lot. It's super easy, makes a ton for leftovers that are awesome for several days, and is served at room temperature so it's easy to make ahead of a dinner party and perfect for the summer. It's great as a side dish or an entree. Here's the recipe if you want to try it:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In an oven safe dish, toss pieces of asparagus (6-8 stalks cut into 1" pieces), bell peppers (3 medium sized multicolor peppers cut into 1" pieces), shallots (2), and garlic (4-5 cloves) with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grape tomatoes work well in this, as would many other veggies I would imagine. Go crazy with the combinations. Roast for 25 minutes, stirring once or twice.

2. While roasting, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a saute pan with a lid. Throw in 1 and 1/4 cup of orzo pasta and brown a little for 2-3 minutes. Pour in 1 can of Swanson's vegetable broth (it's the best, seriously.) and cover with the lid, lowering the heat to just above the lowest setting. Cook for 12 minutes or until most of the broth is absorbed.

3. Pour the roasted veggies into the orzo, and drizzle with 1/4 cup of lemon juice. Stir well to combine and let rest to cool down.

4. Serve with toasted pine nuts (or not, if you're having Mandy over for dinner. She's allergic.), grated lemon zest and shaved parmesan cheese or feta cheese.

5. Revel in the compliments of your guests.

Front yard

We did a mini-overhaul on the front yard this weekend, but it still has a ways to go. Jeff put Weed n' Feed on the lawn to try to bring it back to it's green glory (if it fails, we're ripping it up and going with natives and mulch), and I focused on the dirt patch between the house and the lawn. 6 bags of classic black mulch and $35 worth of succulents later, we got this:

Look at the lilies!! Are they lilies? I don't know. They're going crazy though.

And to top it all off, a new doormat! Thanks Anthropologie sale!

Roger's Gardens

As part of our shopping excursion on Saturday, Mandy and I went on a field trip to Roger's Gardens in Newport Beach. It's awesome there. Even if the big containers of fire sticks were $70. Dang it! I bought a $4 mini version at Home Depot and we're just hoping it will grow into the $70 size quickly.

Here are some pictures of what we saw:

Their succulent arrangements were really impressive. And expensive.

Check out the dinner plate dahlias! That's Mandy's hand for size comparison. Crazy huge!

I really want one or five of these vertical succulent arrangements. I think they'd look awesome hanging on the house walls in the back yard. They were $200 each though, which is why I plan on begging Jen to make one for us instead. :)

I bought a bunch of seed packets, and a couple mini greenhouses to start the seedlings in (ran out of potty pots with the basil). I started these Baker Creek white bush scallop squashes but then read on the packet that they're supposed to be planted 3 feet apart, which means I could get like four of them in my whole 4x8' bed. But I have like 30 other seed packets I also want to plant in the bed. Not sure what I'm going to do about that... might have to call in an expert...

I was such a sucker for the big pretty Franchi seed packets. Look at those beans! Aren't they gorgeous? I can't wait to plant those.

I also finished my composter yesterday. Jeffy  helped and drilled the holes for me. We had a BBQ that night and we used my disposable and compostable biodegradable plates and serving ware which we then tossed in the composter when we were done. They're made from sugar cane fiber. Neat!

We also revamped the front yard this weekend. Pictures of that coming soon!

I smell fantastic.

My kai perfume oil is on it's last rolls, and I felt like switching things up a bit. I'm picky (of course) about my scents and tend towards the fruity and softly floral. My nose is bothered by the stronger spicier perfumes. Mandy and I went shopping on Saturday to Anthropologie and when I saw the packaging for this Mor Cosmetics perfume, I said a quick prayer to myself that the scent was equally lovely because I wanted this bottle. It's perfect! It's from their Nordica collection, and is a white glass bottle with a wood cap and a little wooden Dala horse decorated in a white doily! I had a mini aneurysm when I saw it. It smells DELICIOUS. And it looks awesome on my vanity... because THAT'S important.

This is what I do in my spare time

I geek out with my garden book. I didn't like the cover of the garden book organizer that Jen gave me, so I glued on a magazine photo of a cute boy with a chicken. He kind of looks like Jeff so I don't think Jeff will be jealous.

I also do stuff like this. Draw up perfect grids with a ruler and plan out my plants according to season and symbiotic plant relationships. It calms me.

I made my collection of empty toilet paper rolls into potty pots today. I like the idea of reusing something that was going to get thrown out, and I like that you can grow a seedling in them and plant them straight into the ground, and I like that they were free, but I still want one of those greenhouse trays with the seedling starters kits. I think they look cool.

Here's how they're made. You squash the empty roll in half and crease it, then fold it the opposite way and crease again, making it square shaped instead of circular.

Cut about an inch and a half into each crease on the bottom and fold in the squares to make the bottom.

They don't really sit up straight which bothers Type A Liv, but Mellow Liv let it slide today.

I planted them with genovese basil seeds (using an organic seed starter mix) and put them all in a shoebox which I'll cover later with plastic wrap, and put that on a plastic box lid for leakage, and placed it on the windowsill above my desk. This room gets super warm and sunny for most of the day, and pretty much IS a greenhouse.

I hope they start growing! I want a shit ton of basil. I love me some pesto!

I went to the Home Depot to get some supplies and found these beauties, which are getting planted out in front tomorrow. Yay!

These guys are called "Calico Kitten". Of course I bought them.

Dusty Miller! I love these plants. Color, velvetiness, everything. I can't wait to get everything planted with my cool new planting tools!

Houseguests = good food

I love having houseguests. We always eat well and indulge. We had Sue visiting this weekend to check out the new digs and we had such a nice and relaxing time. She brought me trash magazines so I'm all caught up now on the Hollywood gossip. Speidi is CUH-RAZY!!

We had our dear family friends over for dinner on Saturday which fed us for the next three days as well. Pete, his daughter Nicole, her husband Ben, and their freakin' cute kid Henry made us a fantastic dinner. Roasted eggplant and roma tomatoes pasta with a crusty bread, Italian-style broccoli, salad, and lots of dessert. Pete and Nicole did the cooking while Jeff and Ben drank beer, and Sue and I played with Henry. He was so energetic, and it made me realize how many breakable chotchkies I have (he didn't break anything. Mom Nicole's first order of business as soon as she stepped inside was to sweep through and move everything within his arm's reach. HA!). I'm just going to have to straight-jacket our baby because I'm not moving all my cute stuff while he or she learns coordination and respect for the cat figurine collection.

On Sue's last night, she treated us to a lovely dinner at the King fish house in downtown Long Beach. It was super good. We'll have to take my dad there sometime because Jeff said the cioppino was excellent. Doesn't he look dashing in the bib?

Thanks for visiting Sue! We miss you already...

The backyard and garden

I'm slowly getting ready for my gardening adventures. I need to seriously weed the plot behind the garage where my raised beds will go, start my potty pot seedlings that Adriana showed us how to make, go to the free Home Depot workshop next Thursday with Mandy and Jerod to watch how they build raised beds, build my composter (I'm doing it the cheap way after seeing THIS on the Young House Love blog, and realizing how stupidly expensive the tumbling composters are), and get my garden on! 

I want fancy Sneeboer tools for my new garden. Pretty posh though for digging through dirt and compost. I'll probably just settle for some Home Depot ones on sale.

I wrote this before my awesome brother surprised me this weekend with THESE beauties:

Totally me. Thanks Jan! They're from the Alice Supply Co. I know you don't need cute garden tools to get the job done, but it sure does make the job a lot more pleasant! They have other patterns too, but Jan hit the nail on the head with these ones. So nautically lovely. I'm going to ask for the matching hose for my birthday. 

I also really want this river rock fire bowl for the backyard. Clean burning and safe! And Jeff and Jerod don't have to build it, just haul it to the right spot. Dang Restoration Hardware has nice stuff! We decided together that Jeff building a fire pit might be dangerous, so we're going to buy a fire pit and then Jeff is going to build the brick seating to encircle it.

These 100% recycled materials Adirondack loveseats are kick-ass too and would be so nice to lounge in. They have colorful ones at Home Depot that are cute and WAY cheaper (like $16 each I think) but I somehow doubt they too are 100% recycled in materials. Ah well. We'll probably just sit on blankets on our grass.

And check out our sweet BBQ!!

It was a housewarming gift from Sue and Grammie, and we got to go to BBQ Galore and choose whatever grill we wanted. Jeff was adamant on a charcoal grill with no knobs or doohickeys that could break, and I really wanted something with a table attached to it, so we decided on the Weber Platinum. Fancy! We also got a cover for it to keep it nice when not in use. Can't wait to fire this baby up! Thanks so much Sue and Grammie!!

Her kommer vi DANMARK!!

This Scandinavian adventure of ours coming up is going to take some serious planning. We want it to be spontaneously fun, but I'm afraid that if I don't book things and make an itinerary, we're going to end up spending a lot of money and missing out on a lot of things. My dad just had a nice vacation in Norway this month (for the 17th of May) and collected a bunch of maps and brochures to help us with that leg of our trip, so I'm excited to go through them with Jeff.

The plan right now is to fly into Oslo on August 24th, stay until August 29th, hop on a train to Denmark, spend 3 days in Copenhagen, and then be in Stockholm the 1st through the 6th.

The Design*Sponge city guide for Copenhagen was super useful to start planning out the Danish part of the trip. I wish they had ones for Oslo and Stockholm too! One of the hotels on the guide is the Hotel Fox which sounds AWESOME. I want this room with the tented bed.

So neat!! Doesn't it look cozy? The price seems reasonable too (~$150 a night, which includes a lovely breakfast) so that might be a nice mid-trip luxury after and before the hostels we'll likely be staying in for the Norway and Sweden adventures. The hotel has free wireless which will be nice for my blogging, and they rent bicycles!

Also suggested was Audiowalks, downloadable podcasts with walking tours of the city, the Danish Design Center which is next to Tivoli, the botanical garden and museum, and a Netto-boats tour of the harbor.

This list of free things to do in Copenhagen is also helpful. Will it be weird to carry around a trip folder with tabs and print outs and maps while traveling? I don't care, I'm making one.