Monday, July 26, 2010

D’lish Dish: Sundried Tomato Pasta Salad

Yesterday Kyle and I spent time with the Koskovich side of the family as well as had dinner at my parent’s house. I found this recipe on one of my fav blogs, which made enough to feed an army, literally, not exaggerating, well maybe a little bit. But it definetly made enough for both our get together and dinner. Anyhow, I thought I’d start sharing some of the d’lish dishes that I make.

Before:

POW! BAM! BANG! PESTO!

After:

To get the actually details you can check out the recipe here: Sundried Tomato Pasta Salad

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Inspiration

"Life is not about finding yourself... Life is about creating yourself!"

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Real Men Golf in Pink 4 a Cure!

Monday was a day off of work to recover from what only can be described as the war zone we know as “The 4th”! After spending the evening at home with the husband and our narcotic animals, who I should mention are still narcotic even on a healthy dose of tranquilizer, I spent the morning on Monday content to stay in my PJ’s as long as I possible could. Before I spent too much time window shopping online, I got a call from my dad. He was golfing that day in a Sole Survivor match, and wanted to have me come watch and to make a sign for him so he could raise a little moolah for the 3-Day. I should mention, it was 11:30am at the time he called, and the match started at 2pm. factoring in a shower, getting presentable, and making a sign, and making my way to meet my mom and make it to the course on time, I was slightly short on time. (Inset comment from most everybody that knows me – I am never ready on time!)

After a getting ready, making a stop by the dollar store for signage materials (poster board & a big fat permanent marker), I made met my mom and had her drive so that I could compose the work of art you will see below.

I should note that my dad sported a pink golf shirt that day, played earlier in the day with a pink golf ball, and used a pink tee. During the match, one of the ladies at the course even gave him a pink ribbon ball marker to use. Oh, and the kicker, him and my mom were the lucky bidders who took home the pink and purple golf bag from our auction. So even was sporting his clubs in the Hope bag!

While he may not have been “The Last Man Standing” that day, my dad did golf very well, I got to spending time in the cart with my mom at the wheel (she’s not yet used to the brake on Dad’s new cart), warmed up in the start of our summer sun, and with the help of my dad and the Glen Acre’s Men’s club we raised $182 to go towards my 3 Day funds!


2010 Sweet Melons Silent Auction

June 28th, 2010 - Vino at the Landing

A couple pics I snapped while working the room at the auction. I’m sad I didn’t pull our team together for one shoot, but instead you can checkout some of the great items we had (Sounders tickets, M’s tickets, Bike, Golf, Wine, Wine & Wine, and lots of other really good stuff)!


Overall the event ended up successful with our team raising around $5500 which will be divided up to go towards the $2300 each team member is raising. A good amoutn to put towards a worthy cause!

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Going once, Going Twice, SOLD!!!

Our Silent Auction at Vino at the Landing was held last night. I'm feeling like it was a pretty good success, even if at times things were down to the wire!

Pictures to come shortly.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

On a side note…

I’m pretty sure fundraising should be considered a full time job, in not, then at least a part-time job!  :-)

Sunday, June 13, 2010

With a Knick Knack Paddy Whack, Give a Dog a Bone!

The weather is finally representing the correct time of year. So what else to do but get a good training walk in, as well as get some of Tiki’s overly anxious energy out! While she may not know it, she’s turned in to my walking partner! We took a great walk around Maple Valley, and accidently made a 3(+) mile route from our house, past Elk Run, past 4 Corners, and back. The heat felt great, although it started to get to Tiki in the last part as she slowed her pace a lot. All the more reason to get out more often with her! On a side note, we walked past a Mexican restaurant that was having some sort of mariachi band/horse competition... yes you read that right. Tiki was a bit sketchy when we walked by... and I’m not sure if it was from the parking lot packed full of horses, or from all the men in silver studded outfits and wide-brimmed sombreros!

Post-walk, we got a knock on our door from our neighbor who had in her hands a bone that she wanted to offer up to our dogs. Pretty funny site, to open the door and have the lady from next door holding the bone you’ll see below. They had bought it for their dogs, however I do believe the bone was the size of both their dogs put together. We’re not quite sure what kind of bone it is, but Kyle and I are content in assuming it is the femur from a T-Rex. Needless to say, Tiki adores the bone and gnaws at it any chance she can get. Roxie on the other hand may look like she’s staring with jealousy in the pic below, but I assure you she is quick to follow Tiki and “vacuum” up any and all scraps.

Monday, June 7, 2010

Sea of Pink

Last year I realized my love of 5K’s, and this last weekend kicked off my participation in them again this year starting off with the Komen Race for the Cure (6/6). Last year’s Race for the Cure took place down at Qwest Field along the viaduct; this year’s however was at the Seattle Center and took us along a route on 2nd Ave which gave some great views of the market and the sound. Participating with me were a couple Sweet Melon team members (Rachel, Melanie, & Katie, as well as Katie’s husband Chris). The day started off with a 5:30am text from Rachel: “OMG… it’s raining hard.” Even with the rain, we still made our way to Seattle, raincoats in tow. While the weather could have been more on our side, we thoroughly enjoy the 5K and finished just a little soggier then when we started.

In addition to the race itself, this 5K also lent us some ideas for The 3 Day. Come the end of Sept. we want o make sure our Sweet Melons are well assecorized! :-)

Saturday, June 5, 2010

These Shoes Were Made For Walking…. And That’s Just What They’ll Do!

Happy to see some sunshine today. Maybe that means more outdoor training walks really are in my future! Fingers and toes are crossed! Tomorrow is the Puget Sound Race for the Cure 5K. I’m excited to be participating for the second year in a row. Should add to my inspiration for the 3 Day. :-)

Cakes, Cakes, and more Cakes… (5/29)

It’s hard to believe it but a year ago we were celebrating getting to meet our first nephew, Gavin! Since then we have had a blast as proud Auntie & Uncle and have been honored to see our nephew-godson grow and learn. Gavin’s parents threw him his first birthday party, and to help I made the only acceptable birthday dessert… Cakes, Cakes, and more Cakes! Included was a 1st Birthday Cake, Gavin's very own Smash Cake, and cupcakes. A mix of Milk Chocolate, French Vanilla, and Red Velevet cake all topped with Sara's mom's cream cheese frosting. Yummy!



"I have a tip that can take 5 strokes off anyone's golf game. It's called an eraser."

Arnold Palmer can be credited for the quote above. :-)

Played hooky from work a couple Fridays ago (5/21) in order to spend the day helping out with my mom at the 1st Annual First Tee Challenge Celebrity Gold Tournament at “The Glen” (Glen Acres Golf & Country Club). Thoroughly enjoyed helping out, and got some ideas for future fundraising. All of the golfers were lucky enough to get their rounds in before any major rain rolled through. And right fully so since we had almost every weather person from the Pac NW in attendance (Tracy Taylor – King 5, Walter Kelly – KCPQ 13, & Paul Deanno – Komo 4). Was able to sneak in a pic with “Big Play Babs” - Jordan Babineaux. Great way to wrap up the day!

   

Polish-ville & Magpie Armies (5/15-16)

Made an overnight trip to Lake Limerick, near Shelton with my mom to stay with my Aunt Bonnie & Uncle Budd. I should start by correcting the fact that while Lake Limerick is completely not connected to Poland and is in no way influenced by Polish, it actually has an Irish influence, for whatever reason I’ve always referred to it as Polish-ville with no good reason other then the funny writing on all the street signs.

Our trip down was to attend the Magpie Luncheon and Fashion Show. Yes, you heard me right…. Fashion Show. And if you are wondering what the Magpies are, they claim to be a group of ladies who focus on raising money for the Lake Limerick Inn, however I am pretty sure they may be an undercover army whose main purpose is to take over the world along with having weekly card nights! (I've been reassured the arym part is not true and they really do a great job of raising money.) My Aunt Bonnie is the treasurer, and if you’ve ever played cards with her you know she like to hold the money! :-)

It actually is a really good show of clothes pulled together from two different boutique shops in the area. What I found more entertaining though was the fact that some ladies found it to be appropriate to clang their glasses every time the room set up poorly for acoustics got to loud. As if clanging your glass wasn’t going to just make things louder. Ah, ladies!

Overall a great time as always, and a very relaxing quick trip. A couple pictures from the weekend…

     


Catching Up!

Some how the month of May was hard to get on here.... so I have a little catching up to do...

Sunday, May 9, 2010

¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

Cinco de Mayo is a holiday held on May 5th that commemorates the Mexican army's unlikely victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. It is celebrated primarily in the state of Puebla and in the United States. While Cinco de Mayo sees limited significance and celebration nationwide in Mexico, the date is observed nationwide in the United States and other locations around the world as a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride. (Thank you Wikipedia.)

The Point: Last Wednesday was May 5th, Cinco de Mayo, so we “fiesta”-ed! Complete with fiesta salads, green chili and cheese tamales, and a couple of accessories so we were ready for photo ops!

    

Rockin' The Blog!

So, here we go.... :-)