20090627

Emily and Taylor's Wedding


First kiss as husband and wife!!



Where we get our smarts and good looks!



The Sadlers



The Younger Three



Abigail with Lavender Rice



Emily and Taylor are about to tie the knot!

And, of course, there will be many more to come. These are amazing photographs taken by my cousin, Tasha. Not sure when we will get the professional ones, but they'll be here!

-Natalie

20090625

$130...!!!




dear blogosphere,

my hair cut, dye, and highlights. and new glasses.

-natalie

Emily's Getting Married TOMORROW!


Dear Blogosphere,

It is already June 25! I cannot believe that Emily is getting married tomorrow! I'm so excited for the ceremony and get ready for lots of pictures.

This evening we went cherry picking in Em's backyard for the fruit trays. The cherries are plentiful, beautiful and delicious!

And my mum and I did a little late night baking. 100 tasty gluten free mini cupcakes are taunting me. Must resist. Must resist. So what's left?

- Wedding rehearsal
- Decorating the miniature cupcakes
- Getting hair done
- Shaving legs
- Making a flourless chocolate torte
- Keeping myself from mixing all the amaretto I bought to make the torte with Diet Coke
- Getting a good night's rest

Yay!

-Natalie

20090617

Spectacles!


Dear Blogosphere,

I'll be getting my new glasses in about a week! Aren't they cute? I wanted a change but needed some respectable spectacles (no aqua... resist the aqua). I think these are quite adorable.

Yay.

-Natalie

20090614

A Picture a Day - Part 12 (Starring Ben Kweller)


Dear Blogosphere,

The Ben Kweller concert was amazing! Everything I had hoped for (minus the nasty guy in front of us doing some serious PDA with his girlfriend and the agoraphobic claustrophobe) and more! Ben wore some fantastically tight pants to show off his awesome legs (I'm a just a penny on the train track waiting for my judgment day! Come on sexy Ben let me see those legs before I get flattened-away)! And played most of my favorite songs. Lovely.

The bass player was hilarious. He made funny faces - very Nick-esque in stats.

Maybe one of the best parts was when Ben did a second encore, with his 3 year old (I'm guessing) son on drums! Who knew Old MacDonald could be rocked so hard? Not I, not I.

So, The Avalon allows cameras! I wish I had taken mine but, alas, I only had my crumby 2 MP cell phone. The pictures turn out surprisingly good. I don't get a headache looking at them! Ha ha.

Hope you enjoyed them!

-Natalie

20090611

Dilly Swedish Meatballs

Dear Blogosphere,

Here is the recipe promised. I loved it, but I am a huge fan of dill, so if you aren't I'd cut down a bit on it. The recipe is from Carol Fenster's Gluten-Free Quick and Easy cookbook.

1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 cup gluten-free bread crumbs (I used Southern Homestyle Tortilla Crumbs instead; these can be found at the Dan's in Olympus Cove)
2 tablespoons dried minced onion
1 large egg, slightly beaten
1 1/2 tablespoons dried dill weed
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup gluten-free beef broth (I use Pacific Natural Foods')
1 cup plain yogurt

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a 9x13 inch baking sheet with foil.
2. Combine all ingredients except the broth and yogurt in a large bowl, reserving 2 teaspoons of the dill weed. Shape the mixture into twenty-four 1-inch meatballs. Place the meatballs on the prepared sheet.
3. Bake 20 minutes, or until nicely browned. Remove from oven.
4. In a large skillet whisk together the beef broth, yogurt, and reserved dill weed over medium heat until the mixture is warmed through. If you want a thicker sauce, whisk 1 tablespoon cornstarch into 2 tablespoons of cold water until smooth and then whisk it into the sauce. Continue whisking until the mixture thickens slightly. Place the meatballs in the skillet and heat to serving temperature. Serve the meatballs over cooked rice, hot noodles, or mashed potatoes garnished with a sprinkle of dried dill.

While getting organized and combining the spices, I threw some carrots in olive oil in the oven to roast. Because I like my meat pretty much burnt (extremely well done please!), the meatballs were done at the same time as the carrots. Delicious.

-Natalie

P.S. I've been listening to John Lennon this evening. I had forgotten about "Woman is the 'N' of the World." Lots of food for thought there.

Grocery List!

-Gluten-free bread crumbs (this will be interesting)
-Gluten-free beef broth
-Plain yogurt
-Garlic powder (I cannot believe I'm out!)
-Ground allspice (I only have whole...)

Today, while sitting on my sofa and watching the rain I started to think about dinner.
Swedish Meatballs. Oh, yeah.
I have never seen gluten-free egg noodles, so rice will have to do, but I am quite excited.
For my GF friends, if the recipe is good, I shall post it later!

-Natalie

20090609

Division is Not the Answer!

Dear Blogosphere,

All is very well in the world today. I've got places to go and people to see!!

This Saturday, Megan and I are going to the Ben Kweller concert! So, in honor of that, here is one of his awesome songs:



I've also fallen in love with Garfunkel and Oates. If you go to their website you can download their awesome songs for free! This is a hilarious medley. Cracks me up:



And, finally, Ben Lee. This is a great song and killer video:



Hope you enjoyed them!

-Natalie

20090606

A Picture a Day - Part 11


Dear Blogosphere,

So Ali and I (with much, much help from my mom!!) threw a shower for Emily today. The requested gifts were perennials for her to plant in her yard. The second photo is a gorgeous one from Dustin, Kaatje & Children. The first one is a Japanese honeysuckle in its prime (just in our backyard)!

A beautiful day for a brunch and lovely afternoon for photographing.

Hope you enjoyed these!

-Natalie

20090605

A Genius Idea


Dear Blogosphere,

So last night, while staring at a gluten-free muffin mix, I thought of possibilities: blueberry! lemon poppyseed!! ...cinnamon PECAN!!! At Costco, I decided to buy the huge bag of pecans. I brought them home and thought, I should glaze some of these. So I took a bit of water, a couple pinches of cinnamon, and a whole lot of sugar and glazed the bad boys. It took a lot of serious willpower to not eat them in their deliciously cinnamony and sugary state. So about a half hour ago or so, I made the muffins, going heavy on vanilla and cinnamon.

Oh. My. Pecan.

This was so right.

-Natalie