You are like sunshine,
heart-warming sunshine.
I feel so happy,
even when skies are gray!
I hope you know dear,
how much I love you...
Thank you for be-ing
in my life today. :)

Walking A CAT

Dan's latest spark of brilliance has us leashing our cats, Oliver and Heidi, to go on walks outside. I am extremely doubtful about having any success with this because my cats are almost always found doing this....

I think we are going to have as much luck as Sylvester the cat's owner did...(Click Sylvester to watch what this is going to be like) :)

Rearranging

Who knew such a small space could be arranged so many different ways?

My original kitchen colour was orange...very powerful. We have enough energy as it is, so when we come home we like to mellow out. So here is the kitchen at round 2 after a little different paint. This is looking out through the other 2 rooms of our apt from inside our kitchen right after we moved in. I had only a vague idea of what we were going to do with our stuff in there - the plan was, "just get it in there." And that's about what it looked like!

Version 1

After we started to get a sense of how much space we had we rearranged the chaos and made a cozier living room with a mock fireplace. The living room in the middle made sense to us because we were thinking that while entertaining we could use the kitchen and living room and close the door to out bedroom and we would have two functional spaces. It worked ... for a little while.

Version 2

Version 3
This is round 3 of the living room. After craving more sunlight during our waking hours, less noise during our sleeping hours (we had spent many nights on the pull out couch in the living room where the sounds were dampened) we decided to try switching our living space for our sleeping space. Kind of screws up our plans for a cohesive entertaining area...but hey, this whole living situation is a little funky!

Living room: Round 1
Round 2
Round 3: as our bedroom
The original bedroom setup:
After a few minor changes. I missed taking a photo of the new linens. the bench under the window the bed in the right corner and the new desk area with a mirror hanging over it. That would have been the real "round 2."Round 3: as the living room where we can enjoy the sunshine if we are home. It is much brighter than this in person. I wonder why my camera made it look this way?

Hungry Hungry Hippos

My latest stretch of the comfort zone...
Today is the first day I am making food for Daniel's co-workers. Kind of like catering...but not, I guess. I am cooking vegetarian foods for another guy and eventually another girl. The first two things I had to do were calculate how much I would charge them weekly, and how much extra food I would buy. I guess its challenging because Daniel's appetite is hard enough for me to figure out sometimes. Some days, I make more than enough and others that same amount is nowhere near enough. It's hard for me to get a grip on!

I am very excited to be doing this though. :) This weeks menu seemed easy to come up with though I can forsee that becoming a little more challenging as I try to keep things interesting while going through my recipes one-by-one. I am happy to be promoting vegetarianism. Both of these co-workers have been vegetarian in their lives so they are very comfortable with not eating animals.

Today I made Messy Mikes with whole wheat buns - one of Daniel's favorites. They are like sloppy joes but with tempeh instead of meat.

Messy Mikes

1 pkg Tempeh per person, crumbled (for the guys. otherwise 1/2 works for me)
2 Whole Wheat Buns/pkg tempeh

Sauce:
3/4 c natural catchup per pkg
1 T mustard
1T tamari
2 T brown sugar
1 t vinegar
1-2 T liquid smoke
fresh ground pepper
garlic
red pepper seasoning

I mix all the ingredients in the sauce together to let it marinate and then taste test. After about 10 minutes I pour it over the crumbled tempeh and warm in a saucepan. Then, spoon out onto a toasted bun! yum :)

Dreams Coming True...

This should actually be the last picture in the story of our dream car tour because this is the AFTER photo of Daniel's happy face :) No words can truly explain my feelings about this experience we shared together. I am beyond grateful and happy that we created an opportunity for Daniel to pursue his passion, meet people who thrive in this car world too, and that I was able to join him in his adventures. :)

This is the OMG that was amazing face! :)

20,000 square foot PALACE anyone? We'll throw in the lambo at this point. :)

Unbelievably ecstatic...jumping out of his skin at this point. Here we're in the LP 640 coupe driving back roads and getting close to the expressway...he hadn't even gotten to put that peddle down yet and look at that smile!

Filming crew...nuts. That's all I have to say. He was nuts.

Getting ready to be gracefully whipped around by Mr. Balboni :)

Im driving over the bridge!

This was my turn through Bare Mountains in NY. Gorgeous drive!

I had nerves like I have never had before...cant you tell!!!?!?! :) I LOVED DRIVING THIS CAR. Very hard to drive the taurus after that! But I have always had a love for speed and I crave more of this now! My turn was too short! Ok, next year we'll go again! :) ha ha!

Can hardly contain himself! Cant wait to start driving! NERVOUS!!!!!!!!! WOAH!

The famous Valentino Balboni and happy Daniel shaking hands - so excited to drive!

An eject button for when you arent appreciating your passenger anymore!!!!....ok JUST KIDDING. :) This is the engine start button. Cool huh!?

Doors swing up to open! Cool!

Since the pictures are in reverse order, this is the BEFORE happy face on the day we are going on the Dream Car tour.

Montclair New Jersey where we stopped for dinner and a movie on a rainy day :)

We saw Oceans and it was so inspiring!

An amazing all vegetarian Chinese restaurant that tasted incredible! The seitan faux meats were incredible and sure fooled us!

Their message was:
"You are what you eat. As people become more conscious about their health, vegetarian food has become a very popular and healthy alternative to the traditional foods we have been eating. The chefs here at Veggie Heaven use an eclectic array of ingredients in our vegetarian dishes to simulate the appearance and aroma of Chinese cuisine's favorite meats and fish. All our dishes are prepared entirely with vegetables and vegetable derivatives. Our "meat", "poultry" and "seafood" are made from ingenious blends of bean curd, taro root, wheat gluten, mushrooms, yams and other vegetables. Moreover, we only use pure olive oil and other healthy, nutritional vegetable oils, we do not use MSG, artificial preservatives or flavorings. In other words, we serve 100% natural vegetarian cuisine with no cholesterol, and no saturated fat. A meal with healthy food will make you feel good and happy."

Celebrating Rob's birthday at a rooftop bar overlooking Manhattan. We were so lucky and excited that we happened to be here for his birthday and could get together! He graciously came out of his dorm to spend time with us and show us this lovely location and view after he had been locked in his apartment for 2 weeks straight studying for his med exams!

Fabulous vegan dinner in SoHo.

Greenwich Village

The cocktail party to welcome Mr. Valentino Balboni. Unfortunately, due to the vulcano his flight was delayed 9 hours and we didnt get to meet him that night. It was alright because the best time to meet him was driving his gallardo anyway!

A photo of the table I am destined to have in my home :) Looking forward to it...though a bit more polished up maybe?

The LP 550 Valentino Balboni limited edition Gallardo

...More to come.