Friday's Favorites

Its always so surprising when Friday rolls around again, the week's are going by so fast!  This will be a quick one, but there are always things to be thankful for:

1.  Lipstick Primer.  Why did I just now discover this wonderful product?  Smashbox is the brand I prefer.  Keeps lipstick on until at least noon.

2.  California Fruit.  We've been feasting on strawberries, peaches, apricots, cherries. . . . all sweet and delicious!

3.  Afternoon Hike and Marine and Mammal Center.  Rebecca has Friday afternoons off in the summer so we all took last Friday afternoon off and went for a hike in the Marin Headlands.  We took a few minutes to check out the rescued Sea Lions at the Marine Mammal Center.  Always something interesting going on there!

4.  Baby Shower for my niece having her second.  Nothing like an afternoon with friends and family. Always something interesting going on.

5.  A Son in Law.  Its great to have another person in our family.  The four of us in our nuclear family were always so close and self-contained, we traveled together and were always fine being just the four of us.  I didn't know how we would do when we added another.  But he is a keeper, a  respectful, kind young man who loves my daughter.  We can adjust ;)

Oh, and can I add one more?  I discovered Candy Crush this week.  SO FUN! Its like Tetris with glitter and sparkles.  I can't stop playing!  As a matter of fact I need to cut this short to conquer the next level..  See you soon.

Friday's Favorites

Another action packed week at my house.  Lots of fun and work all bunched together.  Fun things like:

1.  Great Haircut from my niece who just graduated from beauty school.  Right now she only works 3 days a week, but I predict that within a year we'll be having to schedule a month ahead of time with her, she really does a great job!.  If you are ever in Vacaville and need a haircut. . . 

2.  Beautiful weather, a snapshot that represents some of the beautiful scenery I see everyday as I drive around the Bay area.

3.  Giants Game with great seats!  I buy our tickets off of Score Big so we never know for sure where we will be sitting, this weeks game had us in fantastic seats (for the same price as we pay each time we go!).  Besides great seats, we got to see Sergio Romo pitch the final inning.  He is such a performer!

4.  Delicious Soup.  I bought a bunch of cauliflower on sale and found a recipe for Creamy Cauliflower Soup that we have been enjoying all week. (I made it sans croutons)

5. Blessed missed Connection.  My husband had been taking this bus every day back and forth from jury duty.  The day after he was excused, at the same time he would have been returning, his bus was shot at.  Fortunately no one was hurt badly, I saw the bus and the injured people exiting as I came out of an appointment at SF General Hospital.  This is a HIGHLY unusual incident on the Muni bus system, first time I've seen this happen since I've been here.  The bus driver was smart and just drove everyone right to the hospital emergency room.

Have a good week everyone, here's praying that we ALL have blessed missed connections!

Friday's Favorites

It will be June next time we meet, the year is almost half over.  We had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend with lots of fun activities.

1.  Carnaval was celebrated in our neighborhood and our church sponsored a booth with free children's games and a diaper changing area.  San Francisco is not terribly child-friendly, so these services were appreciated by many.  We gave out almost 500 small toys to children.  SO MUCH FUN!

2.  English classes and Bibles.  We also gave out about 1000 invitations to our free English classes and some free Bibles.  New immigrants were especially interested in the Bibles (and appreciative when we had one in their language!)

3.  Lugo vs Printer.  Who can resist a cat's fascination with the printer.  We have to watch him though, he broke our last one . . . .

4.  Appreciation.  Bob volunteer's at the school around the corner and the first graders made him this card on his last day of the year to help.  Few things are more rewarding than teaching a child to read!  Good job Bob!

5.  Wedding pictures!  I finally got a copy of all of them and I'm trying to decide between these two as my favorite of Rebecca.  I knew my favorite of her would be different than hers, I feel like these capture who I know her to be.  She's beautiful no matter what!

(I think I like this one better)

Hope your summer is getting off to a great start!

Friday's Favorites

A calmer week for me after all the fun we had last week.  We celebrated Mother's Day, as did many of you.
Some of my favorites were:

1.  Kittens!  My daughter went out of town so we cared for these precious babies.  A kitten has a way of always making you happy!

2.  Mother's Day brunch and the leftovers.  We had a French cook in our church kitchen on Mother's day and got to enjoy an extra delicious meal.  A turkey was involved and I got to bring the bones home which made a particularly delicious broth.

3.  Cottage cheese dip.  One of my favorites and oh-so-easy.  2 cups cottage cheese, 1/2 cup yogurt, 1/2 cup bleu cheese, pepper, 3 cloves garlic minced.  Put in all the food processor and you get a delicious, healthy dip!

4.  Lunch with a friend.  My friend just finished school to be a nurse practitioner and does not yet have the date for her exam, so we grabbed this little bit of free time to have lunch out.  Somehow we landed at a place that was serving Pork Lasagna and it was pretty amazing!

5.  Sleeping Cat.  After sleeping all night Lugo cuddles on one of our laps in the morning for a few more minutes dream time.  Cats really have it made. . . . 

Hope your week was calm and that you are enjoying the Spring!

Friday's Favorites

Last weekend we celebrated Mother's Day (early) and my daughter's birthday.  A fun, action packed weekend that started off with:

1.  Spa day and Cinderella.  Rebecca's work rewarded her with a gift certificate to a Spa in San Francisco which she shared with me!  We dressed at the Spa for the San Francisco Ballet premiere of Cinderella.  Being the premiere, many women were dressed in ball gowns.  It was a magical evening.

2.  Mother's Day at Tomales Bay where you can buy and cook freshly harvested oysters.  I prefer them raw but they are delicious on the grill as well.  Eating fresh oysters on the beach.  . . what could be more relaxing and delicious?!

3.  A visit from my son (who I neglected to take a picture of!) and a perfect Mother's Day gift.  I've been wanting one of these FOREVER!  I'm already turning out delicious food from my kitchen with this baby.

4.  Giants Game!  After they swept the Dodgers (sorry SoCal readers), the Giants lost to Philadelphia :(  But a night at the AT&T stadium is a treat no matter who wins :)

5.  Kittens and Cats!  Rebecca and Jon are fostering these cute babies and we got to spend some time with them as well.  Keep looking for more adorable babies. . . .

Celebrating Cinco de Mayo

Soaking up the sun!

Happy Mothers Day to my readers!  Enjoy the day with your families!

Friday's Favorites

No pictures this week as we transitioned into May.  End of the month is always a little hectic for me so we didn't go out much.  Partially because we are saving our strength for an EPIC WEEKEND!  Lots of fun coming up starting today.

Still plenty to be thankful for though, things like:

1.  Doc Martin, we are enjoying watching these on Amazon Prime.  An MD with a mild case of Asbergers giving care in rural England.  Complete with a love triangle and lots of comical misunderstandings.  Its just relaxing to watch.

2.  Homemade Pizza.  Another pastor's wife in the City spontaneously invited us to dinner for some homemade pizza.  Turned out to be a relaxing evening catching up with colleagues.

3.  Warm Weather.  It was 80 degrees in my house yesterday!  For San Francisco that is pretty amazing.  Time to bath the cats and spend some time outdoors.

4. Lunch with a view.  A bag lunch on a hospital roof top with amazing views of the Bay and the city brightened one of my workdays.

5. Competency.  I learned a new skill at work and used it successfully this week.  That is always very satisfying for me!

This weekend I am looking forward to:  A Spa date with my daughter, seeing Cinderella the Ballet, raw oysters at Tamales Bay, a birthday-before-the-big-one for one of my kids.  Come back next week to hear all about it :)

Friday's Favorites

I love the days at this time of year when they start to get long and you know you have a wonderful summer ahead of you.  I just seem to have more energy at this time of year!  Energy to:

1.  Cesar Chavez days in our neighborhood.  Our church participated by having a craft booth for children and making "Peaceful Pinwheels" with sayings from Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln, Cesar Chavez and Jesus- all amazing peacemakers.  A local video filmed of the event featured lots of clips from our booths.

"Peaceful Pinwheels"

2. A smart daughter, quoted above in the New York Times on Earth Day for her work on a Clorox campaign for their green brand, Green Works.  So proud!

3.  A shared burrito.  The burritos in our neighborhood are just HUGE!  Sharing is the only way to go.  We share these babies often :)

4. Ridiculous earrings.  I just had to buy a pair.  I'd rather wear these to our Giants Games than a baseball cap.  A little local pride is not a bad thing.

5.  A quick fix.  I have a lot of headaches and they make me sensitive to light.  While I'm loving the long days and sunshine, sometimes I need to block a little out.  I found these easy-install shades at Amazon (Prime) and they have done the job to block the sun when I need a little break from it.  (well, it was easy for me to install because Bob did it, but he said it was easy!)

• We also enjoyed a meal out with old friends at a funky Chinese place called "The 8 Immortals".   The food was delicious and the service classic SF Chinese, aka, borderline rude.  I don't know why we enjoy that so much. . . 
• Several overnight guests.  Considerate people who came and went neatly and politely.  

Hope you are enjoying Spring as well!