9. First Paddle Board Outing

Monday I used another Living Social coupon to try out some fitness fun.  Paddle Boarding!

 I had to be at SUP Diego at 11:30 to check in and get the board on my car.  Driving with one of these on my car was an experience itself.  Definitely nerve racking to have a board creak and flop in the wind as you drive! Some how I managed to make it to our location around Tecolote shores without the board flying off.  We unloaded and hit the shore for a little instruction before hopping on.

Paddling is much like a canoe only your standing.  Paddle close to the board to go straight and wide to turn. Left side paddling turns you right and vice versa. Holding the handle at the top of the paddle gives you more power because you use your arms. The boards are very buoyant so it is just a matter of balancing while paddling.

As you can see from the picture below I started off on my knees until I learned to paddle with out turning my body.  Turning the body turns the board.

 It was a two hour excursion and I paddled for a little over an hour.  I won't bore you with the pictures of the super small island I paddled around.  Sore the next day from some newly found muscles but well worth it.  I love the water so this is a perfect fitness fit for me.  I will be on the board again soon adding another joyous adventure to this wonderful life!

Anyone else had a paddle board experience? or some other fitness fun activity?  Please share.

8. DIY Bathroom Update

Completed  Bath Reno

Buying a "fixer" house was not in the plans when we made the move to San Diego.  Things changed when we found a fantastic view (pic below) with a project house attached.  Keeping within the budget meant doing some projects ourselves.

One of my first projects was a half bathroom.  The wall color made it feel gloomy and did not match the yellow in the floor tile.  Both the tile and cabinets had patterns that did not complement each other.  I did not want to spend too much since our plan is to do a full redo in a few years.  What immediately came to my mind was, you guessed it, painting.

 I decided to go with a valspar color combo I saw at Lowe's...Muslin Wrap for the walls and Deep Walnut for the cabinets in a satin finish.  Muslin Wrap is an off white with a touch of yellow and Deep Walnut is deep brown.  I hoped the yellow touch would brighten up the area since it receives no natural light and complement the tile.  It worked almost too well.  The lighting in the bathroom made the yellow really stand out. I wanted to make the medicine cabinet less noticeable so decided to paint the trim the wall color.  Deep Walnut on the cabinets and mirror brought out the brown in the tile.  I used accessories I already had to add pops of green to the space.  We replaced the facet, lighting, and hardware to brushed nickel to complete the modern update. See some before and after.

Later I will post about my cabinet painting adventure with a few tips of dos and don'ts I learned the hard way.  Lots of work but well worth it.   I loved how it turned out in design and budget!  On to the next new DIY adventure.
What colors would you have chosen in this DIY project?

7. Herb Garden Pizza

Thought it was time for an herb garden update.  My herbs are growing and doing quite well.  I added a small second bed with more basil and parsley and an addition of mint.  Mint is a fav in tea, lemonade, mojito, and lots of other beverages! This a link to my first herb garden post if you missed. Herb Garden
Loving gathering these fresh herbs to make delicious dishes for my table.  One I recently made was a quick Herb Garden Pizza. This time I used a ready whole wheat crust instead of making my own.

Ingredients:

• Pizza Crust-ready made
• 2 Tablespoons Tomato sauce
• 1/4 cup cooked ground meat (turkey or beef)
• 10 to 12 Turkey pepperoni
• Veggies-1 Romo Tomato sliced, 1/4 cup Sauteed Spinach, 1/2 cup chopped Mushrooms and Zucchini, 1/2 roasted bell pepper
• Herbs-1 Tablespoon or so of chopped Rosemary, Parsley, and Basil
• Mozzarella cheese-lots for us,  around 8 oz shredded
• Cheddar cheese-amps up flavor, around 2 oz shredded

Layered all ingredients on pizza crust in following order:

Tomato sauce, Rosemary, Parsley, 1/3 cheeses, pepperoni, ground meat, 1/3 cheeses, zucchini, mushroom, spinach, parsley, basil, rest of cheeses, tomato, roasted bell pepper (only on my side, hubby does not like bell pepper)

Baked on pizza stone according to crust directions.  400F for 10 to 12 minutes.  Delish and so quick especially if you have already cooked the ground meat.  This is very easy to adapt to your families taste!

What are your favorite veggies or herbs to add to pizza?

6. Yummy Grilled Artichokes

Last week I decided to to try grilling artichokes for the first time.  This was an ambitious undertaking since I had never cooked an artichoke. Surprisingly it turned out well. My husband and I enjoyed the light Italian/smoke flavor of my recipe.

Most of the recipes I found had you cook the artichoke first then grill to add flavor.   How to make a Killer Grilled Artichoke was the U Tube video I used to educate myself on grilling an artichoke.  I also used his marinade as a base but changed ingredient amount slightly.

Ingredients I used:

• 1 artichoke
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon white wine
• 1 medium to large lemon
• 1/2 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 1 garlic clove minced
• 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
• salt and pepper to taste

Procedure I followed:

Trimmed the points and end off the artichoke.  I tried to cut it it half but it was to hard. Decided to wait until after it was cooked.  Place the artichoke in stock pot with water, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of white wine, 1/2 tablespoon of Italian seasoning,  juice of 1/2 a lemon, and drop in the lemon half.  Boiled it for about 45 minutes which was too long.  I think next time 30 to 35 minutes will be enough. The artichoke petals fell off when cut it in half. Oops! Lastly I scooped out the choke. 

Basted the artichoke and loose petals with a marinade of 1/2 cup of olive oil, 1 minced garlic clove, 1/2 lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, salt, and pepper. Grilled on medium high setting for 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Added the extra marinade to 1/2 cup mayonnaise for dipping. 

It turned out so well that I can't wait to try this again!

5. Check out my TOMATO and LIME harvest last weekend

9 to 21, my ratio of tomatoes to limes.

Loving every minute of this idea weather to experiment with new plants and more gardening than I have ever done.  The hot Texas weather made the work/ reward factor to low for me. Most of my plants are still looking, growing, and producing well.  A herb garden update, along with recipes, with be coming soon.

Our three citrus trees require very little care...prune, feed, water.  They produce like champs.  FABulous to use limes off my tree in fish tacos, guac. and take my glass of water up a notch!  One of my friends used them to make make a refreshing limeade.  The oranges and tangerines make a tasty treat.  I will be finding a few recipes for those as well.

Now on to those tomatoes. What can say about a home grown tomato except YUM! Finding on to match in a store is impossible.  I eat them like an apple and put them in so many recipes. I had a slight scare with what looked like bacteria spots on my tomato plant leaves.  I watered and feed well.  It seems to be recovering since it is LOADED with more fruit. (see above).  See you next time!

4. My blessed 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July! 

As I woke up on July 4^th I thought about the celebrations I would be missing this year.  My day would be filled with cooking, cleaning, and going over bill pay.  It made me fill sad for a moment until I remembered that I should focus on the blessings of the moment  not on what I was missing.  Let me explain…

I spent my July 4^th holiday in Texas.  It was not the usually firework, BBQ, boating celebration I would have enjoyed  in there.  I was cooking, cleaning, and paying bills at my parents.  My mom is recovering from  extensive back surgery .  It is difficult time for them.  My  parents were grateful to have the help. 

I thought what is good right now.  The list was long.  It just takes a minute to realize your life is filled with blessings.   A few that came to my mind were the freedom I have in the USA, the ability to financially make the trip, the memories my parents like to share, and helping those in need.  So although my 4^th was a quiet one without any celebration tales it was  filled with joy! 

3. Painting a Memory

Painting to copy

In April a Living Social coupon caught my eye.  It was an Art Uncorked Painting Event.  The idea is to teach participants how to copy or paint a specific painting while in a wine bar type environment.  One of my dear friends has always expressed how relaxing painting was for her.  I thought why not combine date night, painting, and wine!  We finally used our coupon last Sunday.

Cafe Bella

Neither my husband or myself have ever painted an acrylic painting on canvas before Sunday. We were nervous when we walked in an saw the painting on the easel.  You can sort of see the instructor to the left of the blank easel.  She gave step-by-step guided instructions to guide us through the painting process.  You could follow exactly or change up whatever you wanted.   It was a super low stress experience. The wine and food added to the relaxed and fun environment.  We both thoroughly enjoyed it.  You can see our finished products the picture below. What a new and joyous adventure that we can now hold in memory together! 

2. Herb Garden

I am excited to plant my very first outdoor herb garden.  I noticed that the temps here in our so-cal location were cooler.  I thought could it be that an outdoor herb garden would work? It has been a dream of mine to walk outdoors, cut some thyme, basil, etc, and use in my very own dish.  Dream has become reality (at least for the moment).  What a wonderful adventure planning, planting, and harvesting!!!

As you can see I am a fan of thyme, since I planted 3 varieties.  I had used all these herbs in cooking before with the exception of the lemon thyme.  It has now become a favorite! It has a slightly more lemon flavor than just regular thyme  Chopped fine, added to butter and  placed on top of  grilled salmon equals deli-sh!  Some thing about adding your home grown herbs to a dish brings joy to me.  Another step in joyous living!

1. The Beginning

First post...a little scary for me!  I have always been more numbers than words.  Starting this blog is a true new beginning for me.  An experiment, if you will, into the more creative side of myself.  The name itself is there to remind me to explore and imagine.  It will be devoted to less inward thinking and more outward doing.  Time to share those projects, activities, and ideas that I find entertaining and joyous.  Perfection not required!  Please join me on this journey.