Inspired Kitchen Creations

I went to the grocery store after work today and discovered a new brand of sausages at Ralph's. I picked up the Aidells Habanero and Green Chile flavor and lucky for me, there was a suggested recipe right there on the packaging.

So, along with a few other things, I picked up the items that they recommended and came home to put them all together. I also thought to try out my new camera and apron too....so here goes what I came up with tonight for dinner!

It was as simple as taking all the ingredients you see here, and putting them together. Super easy, and it ended up being really good too.

I felt so much more like I was supposed to be in the kitchen because I was wearing my new digs. I really liked the apron! :)

This was the first time that I'd chosen to use whole wheat pasta, and it actually worked really well. I probably didn't cook the red peppers enough....because I was super hungry....but it was a very delightful combo.

Next time you're in a rut for something new for dinner, try this. Took no more than 20 minutes to put together and cook. If I think of a name, I'll let you know. :)

Scavenging All Over Town for Camille

Camille's plans for Sunday for her birthday included a Scavenger Hunt. She put everyone that RSVP'd on a team and assigned us a team color. Brett and I were paired up with Mark and Janey...and were ORANGE!!!

Mark and Brett REALLY brought it with their choices of oranges.

Everyone arrived at the designated spot and we were given our clues. I was shocked to see that it was 3 pages!! On each page there were things that we had to do, photograph, collect, or video.....with each task assigned a number of points ranging from 1 to 5. We were setup on our way around 1230 and were off to do as many as we could and be at our meeting spot at 5pm.

Camille said she would give our team 1 point if I could get all 23 of us in one photo. Well, I didn't make it...but it's fun anyways!

GOOOOOOO.........teams!!!

The tasks were totally random......some included....

Picture of:

- person walking a dog

- your entire team drinking from one soda

- gas receipt for exactly 50 cents

- a 6"5' person

- build a sandcastle for 2 points...bury a teammate for 5

- an apple iphone with a blackberry....a blackberry with an apple

- New Mexico, Massachusetts, and Hawaii license plates

- rat, cat and dog in same picture (evidently there is a person downtown that has all 3 animals)

We decided to head out to the Farmer's Market and managed to accomplish a lot of the pictures...and quite a few videos there too. We then took a trip over to Goleta Beach where we knocked out a few others!

Then we were off again for some other tasks....

- entire team with as many city limit signs

- pictures with farm animals

- visit to Maverick's to take something off the wall

- a picture at one of Camille's favorite wineries

- the spot where Brett & Annemarie are getting married (that one was worth 2 points - woohoo!)

We have a TON of videos of the other fun things we did too!! I'll probably end up compiling some of them at some point....BUT.....we made it to the meeting point EXACTLY at 5pm as we were instructed. Phew!! It got close there at the end.

When all the teams arrived, everyone started to tally up their points. The totals were 78.....91....93.....and so, when I counted us up with having 97.....we knew we had done pretty well!! Camille did her verification...and then announced TEAM ORANGE the winners!! Woohoo!!! We took home the jackpot!

We then enjoyed a wonderful evening with yummy food and great friends!

The wood fire pizzas there were delicious!! The smores and lava cake dessert weren't half bad either!

All the smiling faces of the ones that love our dear friend, Camille!

This was such a super fun day. Brett and I had a blast competing with Mark and Janey. It totally felt like we were on The Amazing Race. My Mom would have been so proud of us, and loved to watch us, too. All 4 of us totally kept our cool the entire day, and worked so well together as a team. There was more laughing than anything during our day. We all put in the effort and were thrilled to come out the winners. Watching everyone's videos and seeing all the pictures made it that much more fun. What an awesome thing for Camille to do for her friends, on her birthday!!

We love you Camille!!! Here's to a GREAT decade!!! :)

I love it when we're crusin' together...

It's Camille's birthday week....and that means LOTS of celebrating. I already missed the activities earlier in the week, but I was definitely down for the Saturday and Sunday plans.

It literally rained ALL week. Every day Monday through Friday this week, it was pouring in Santa Barbara. There was thunder and lightening that I would relate to a good ole Texas storm....not a norm for Santa Barbara at all.

So, when I woke up at the crack of 1030am on Saturday and there was sun coming in through my window, I knew it was going to be a great day. The forecast called for sunny and 61 - perfect! I met up with the girls at noon at the Bath House.....everyone with a beach cruiser in tow. I borrowed LB's "Sunny" for the occasion. It's SO much more fun to ride than my mountain bike. :)

Wonder what we should call our Bike Gang? I'm sure Emily would have come up with a good name.

Taking snapshots on the moving bike wasn't as easy with my new camera....but it was worth it. Kinda loving my new toy!! ;)

The first stop was for Camille's favorite croissant in SB - Renaud's Patisserie. After devouring the almond AND chocolate delights....we were off again.

Next stop was a trip into Forever 21. I mean....who cares that we're all almost in our 30s. The store IS called Forever TWENTY ONE. Camille managed to find herself some fun birthday skirts that I'm sure she'll pull off better than any 21 year old. :)

We were good and stopped at every red light along State on our ride. I can't imagine what people were thinking trying to avoid us along the way.

Another quick trip into World Market for some ramekins for Camille. I managed to pick myself up an apron for a steal. Emily found a few cute things in the store too. Love that she found Emily's Fortune Cookies....and for me? Well, Aah! Tuesday, of course.....oh come on, you know why!!

We rode all the way down State....the key word being down....as in downhill.....to the pier. Camille managed to scare this little bird away.....but what a GORGEOUS day!! It couldn't have been a prettier day!

We popped into Coastal Winery for a wine tasting. This place was so cute and the staff was so nice to us. Cheryl and I shared a tasting....and by far my favorite was a Stella Rosa something or another. I should have written it down. Oh well. Anyways...this place was neat and I think it'd be a great spot for my TX friends that come in early for the wedding to visit on a Friday afternoon. :) I'm just saying.

Fun friends.

We then proceeded to bike....UPHILL....towards Hungry Cat - one of Camille's favorite places to catch happy hour and appetizers in SB. I agree. The place has a charm to it that is unbeatable. The drinks and french fries are so yummy too!! I split a crab cake sandwich with the birthday girl and it did not disappoint.

After we rode all over town, we completed the circle and ended up back at the Bath House. Such a fun day on the bikes....and my bum isn't even sore. Love the big seats on the cruiser. OH, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the basket. I think I'm totally going to have to get myself another bike. :)

We split up the list of things to get for our last destination of the evening. My list included stuff for pedicures, an air mattress and chicken tenders. The final plan of the night was a slumber party at Camille's place.

It was great. We stuffed ourselves on more cheese and snacks than we needed to, painted some toes, did some masks, and watched a movie. It was way past a normal bedtime when we all finally turned in for the night.

At the end of the night, we had 6 girls spread out all over Camille's living room. We sang to her right at midnight and rung in 30 with her with lots of smiles and love!!

Planning used to be fun for me...

Oh, there is a LOT of planning going on right now for the wedding. It's pretty much consuming most of our time at the moment, although I'm trying REALLY hard to not let it. There is just so much to do, and it's on my mind, so I want to get it all done. I'm driving Brett a little bit crazy. So, really, there is a lot of planning to plan, and that's about it. It takes up so much time.

I wish I knew how to delegate.....well, more so, I wish I knew WHAT to delegate. My wonderful bridesmaids have offered to help....and I really do want to take them up on that...but I don't even know where to start.

Wedding planning isn't fun. I used to like to plan....but not sure what it is these days. I think it's more that I don't really know what I want, and that's stressing me out more than anything. Brett asked me to put into words what my vision for our wedding day is....and all I could come up with was "yellow". I see things that I like. I see things that I don't like, but I just have no clue how to put it all together.

Oh well....it'll all work out. The most important thing to me is that our family and friends are here to celebrate the day with us. Everything else could fall apart and as long as the people I love the most are there with us, then I'll be a happy bride.

So...until then. :)

Rock Band - ShowIt Style

We had a company "family meeting" this morning....and all gathered around the living room to hear what's been going, and where everything is going. It was great to hang out with everyone and learn a little bit more about all the ShowIt-ers.

The afternoon was spent being pretty lazy, and disappointed by the Cardinals. Oh well. I wasn't too terribly upset...but can't say the same for all of the local residents. Sorry Todd!

We gathered tonight at Todd and Elisa's home for a burrito and Rock Band night....complete with fog and lights. For Rock Band that is, not the burritos. :)


We all took turns with all the instruments and went through a ton of songs!! Fun times. Brett totally wants the fog and lights for his place too. Of course. :)

ShowIt Buddies at Brix

Tonight we went out on the town for a company dinner. Brix set us up in the back room, and all 19 of us packed in nice and tight. Hey, we're all family anyways, right?

We had a wonderful menu full with artisan cheeses, yummy salads, and main courses of steak, lasagna, duck or fish. Luckily I had Brett next to me, as he helped me clean all of my plates.

The caesar salad was authentic and came with anchovies on top. Andrew always seems to be trying new food when he's around ShowIt folks, and so he braved eating the little guy whole. The jury is still out on whether or not he'll be doing that again anytime soon.

Brett was telling me that I was getting a little too excited about getting us a group shot.....but it's really just one of my favorite things. I love to be able to document the memory so we can look back on it in years to come.

It was a great time and I love the chances like these to get to know the people that make up the company.

A Flagstaff Friday Afternoon

Ahhhh.....vacation. Yesterday, I left SB, on the same flight as Christianne, and we made it to Phoenix in no time. After getting to the B terminal, we had 3 hours to kill. We shared some dirty nachos and a pulled pork sandwich at the Roadhouse, and then not too long after that, Andrew met up with us.

Our small little propeller jet plane didn't have to get too high to get us up the mountain to Flagstaff. DJ and Brett met us at the airport and then we made our way up to the fun cabin where we are staying. This place is amazing. 3 master bedrooms, a loft, and 3 other bedrooms. We've got a house full of ShowIt retreat-ers. :)

This morning, I woke up to the smell of french toast and bacon cooking in the kitchen. 8 of the folks from the house went to slopes, while Christianne, Chrystal, DJ and I decided to chill and keep the fort down. I spent the morning catching up on blogging and pictures, and a few TV shows online too. So nice.

We were starting to experience the true definition of "cabin fever" and so 3 of us took off to town for a bite to eat for lunch. We found downtown Flagstaff, and it was just as quaint as we were expecting. Lunch was at a little diner of sorts....and I cleaned my plate - it was all so yummy - including my tomato artichoke soup.

It's a little bit colder here than it is at home. It is sunny and 44...but I was still cold with a few layers on. There were people walking around in tee shirts that were definitely locals.

We went into a super neat kitchen store and walked around for a bit, and then just made our way back through downtown. There were a few creative types in the main square singing, playing guitars and also hacky sack. Fun. :)

Blue skies and snow make beautiful scenery! Back at the cabin now waiting for the rest of the crew to come off the mountains. Ahh....relaxation. Love it.