I'M IN UTAH

finishing Stephanie-Palooza...

image via here

See you next week!

A DRAMATIC BEFORE AND AFTER

Purple hair.
That is one of the things my sister has always wanted and would Stephanie-Palooza be complete without her getting purple hair?
She has always had jobs where "no unnatural hair color" was allowed. We say she's been 'oppressed by the man'.
Now that she is unemployed and Scotland bound, she decided to go for it and last night her purple hair journey began.
This is my awesome hair stylist, newly engaged, beautiful sister-in-law Jill.
She took on the 4 hour task to take Steph to violet purple-ism...

My mother-in-laws sink is now the lovely shade of violet...

After three bleach jobs (one on the bottom and two on top), a whole bottle of violet, bags and pins up nostrils, 4 hours of surprise visitors saying good-bye and sneaking a look-see plus a fresh haircut, Stephanie's purple journey is complete and now she's really ready for her Scotland adventures.

BEFORE

AFTER

PS, of course were watching Glee. Rumor has it we'll be seeing John, in at least 10 episodes, yippee!

IT'S BEEN IN THE WORKS FOR QUITE SOME TIME AND NOW IT'S HERE

My baby sister is moving to Scotland!

photo via one of steph's self portraits

We're heading to Utah to finish Stephanie-Palooza and then we'll be saying "Cheerio!" at the SLC airport.

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.

Explore. Dream. Discover."

-Mark Twain

I love you and I'm so proud of you Steph AND I can't wait for Larry and I to come visit you!

DINNER UNDER THE GOLDEN GATE,

Seriously, how stinkin' cool is this?!

I'd want to sit there all night and soak up the amazing atmosphere.

Jordan Ferney, won't you be my neighbor?

THE GOOD-BYE'S STARTED

last night at a fun family bon voyage dinner....

The evening ended with me helping Steph pack and I can't believe we didn't get any photos of that project because it was hilarious and we were determined!

Imagine trying to put a pair of jeans on that are three sizes too small. You're jumping, using a wire coat hanger to help you pull up the zipper and you finally get all stuffed in but you're in there so tight you worry the jeans are just going to split wide open. You contemplate duck taping the seams then decide you should go with a bigger pair of pants and getting out is a little like freaky friday morning wake up....

I MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE

been in jail.This is how rumors get started...

I DIDN'T KNOW THEY COULD GET SO TALL

We had 6 sunflower plants grow ginormous...

We have the flower heads drying in the shed.

The seeds taste great raw, I can't wait to taste them dried!

LOVING

this bike...

photo via here

I'd love to have a countryside weekend getaway too...

FOR YOUR INFORMATION

International Hug a Vegetarian Day is today...I'm feeling better today, so when you hug me you don't have to worry about me slugging you.

Hmmm, that kind of had a happy bunny ring to it, don't you think?

UGG

is all I can think of.
I haven't exercised all week - not one little bit.
I've had a headache for two days.
I'm drinking way too much diet coke and I'm sure it has nothing to do with my headache.
Being forced to eat like a vegan isn't as bad as I thought but it sucks. I like eggs, dairy and processed food! Not to mention that it's hard to find food when I'm out of the house.

I wish I had a vegan mentor.

I have too many unfinished home projects.
And I've got to wax my fuzz-stache but I've been too lazy. Maybe I should just stop looking in the mirror.
Hope your week has been peachy.

OUR TOMATO PLANTS ARE STILL

producing a bounty, it's perfectly nippy outside and I had a new "cheese" to try.... I sliced two tomatoes in half, placed a little wedge of Follow Your Heart Vegan Mozzarella on each one, broiled them until the cheese was melted and seasoned my morsels with freshly ground sea salt and black pepper...

Very tasty indeed.

HALLOWEEN AND ALL THE

fun that comes with this autumn holiday is right around the corner, and I love having October be a fun month for my man clan.

Our October list of activities are:

1. Make cookies and "boo" our neighbors

2. Make a spooky paper mache pinata

3. Watch Monsters Inc.

4. Go to a pumpkin patch

5. Make a pumpkin crumb coffee cake

6. Make a ghostly pizza

7. Watch Monster House

8. Watch The Little Vampire

9. Make a Halloween trail mix snack

10. Make a Candy Corn Cake

11. Make monster toes

12. Make mummy pizza

13. Make hot dog mummies

14. Watch It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

15. Go to an apple orchard and pick apples

16. Make apple cider donuts

17. Carve pumpkins

18. Go on a hay ride

19. Take the older boys to a haunted house

20. Make pumpkin cookies

21. Go trick or treating!

What are your favorite Halloween/autumn activities to do in October?

SOME PEOPLE CALL IT FLUBBER,

others call it gak - whatever you call it, it's super fun and super easy to make...Pour 1 cup Elmer's glue to a large glass or ceramic bowl - no plastic bowls or it will stick!
Add 1/2 cup water and mix with a fork until it is smooth.
Add 4 drops of food coloring and mix with fork until well combined.

Put 1/2 cup warm water and 1/2 tsp of borax in small bowl.

Let it sit until dissolved then pour into the large bowl.

You will see a chemical reaction and things start looking funky and sticking together. Slime is forming!

Mix with your fork and as it thickens use your hands.

It's a cheap, easy, fun science experiment for the whole family to do together.

It bounces, breaks if you pull fast, stretches if you pull slow, feels flubbery - it's great fun!

PAN-FRIED MOCHI

A sticky, ooey, gooey way to end your day....
I've made them only twice but tried two different versions - this is my favorite.
This is an Alicia Silverstone vegan recipe from The Kind Diet.

2 tsp olive oil
1 package unflavored mochi
shoyu
brown rice syrup

Cut mochi into 1x2 or 1x1 pieces (for me the 1x1 pieces puffed easier). Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Place mochi in the pan, making sure they don't touch. Cover, reduce the heat to low and cook for 4 minutes. Flip the mochi, add 2 drops of shoyu on each piece, cover and cook another 4 minutes. The mochi will begin to puff and get gooey. I found that if after the last 4 minutes they don't look done, if I turn off heat but leave the pan on the burner and leave the lid on for a few more minutes they puff beautifully. Put the mochi on a plate and drizzle 1 tablespoon of brown rice syrup on each one.

The other way I made them was I used sesame oil instead of the olive oil. I liked the sesame and shoyu flavor but for a sweet ending, I like the olive oil and brown rice syrup.

Larry has eaten ice cream filled mochi balls at a Japanese restaurant.
What other ways have you eaten mochi?

IF YOU HAVE A FOOD ALLERGY,

P.F. Changs is the place to eat!
We ate at the Bridgeport location and I was so impressed with their service and procedures to accommodate....

They have many vegan options.

What impressed me most is if you tell them what you are allergic to, they will come back with a printed menu of all the choices you have to choose from.

Most importantly, they do not act like you are burdening them.

They were very eager to please and I really appreciated that.

By offering to double check ingredients, they stopped me from eating an item that had already arrived that I would have had an allergic reaction to...

I chose Coconut Curry Vegetables, brown rice and garlic snap peas for lunch.

It was delicious and I left so, so, SO full - it was fantastic.

PS - I know, I know, I need to do something with my hair.

PARTY LIKE IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY

Happy birthday Laird, we love you!

IF I COULD DO A CARTWHEEL,

I absolutely would - I'm so excited I'd do two, maybe even three!
Jill and John are engaged!!

Congratulations!

THE PIRATE FESTIVAL

was our destination today.
It was the wish of our birthday boy and also on our Stephanie-Palooza list....

The Pirate Festival is this weekend, rain or shine, at Cathedral Park and we got both....

We had a lot of sword fighting amongst our troops....

We heard a lot of ARRRG's, AVAST!, AYE!, SHIVER ME TIMBERS! music and laughter.....

The birthday boy had master skills at the diabolo booth...

And juggling booth...

We saw pirates of every shape and size and even a few sirens too....

It would be a delight for all you people watchers....

We saw sword fighting...

There was so much for the children to do!

Dancing, puppets, re-enactments, bands playing, contests and one of our favorites was Scupper Monkey Island...

After a couple of hours the skies opened and down came the rain....

Some of us who hiked our pants and went barefoot left with wet, wrinkly toes.

The rest of us just left wet - actually, really, REALLY wet!