Two months off!? and a birthday!!

OK, I've been lazy and set this blog on the back burner. But I've also been having memory/hard drive/space issues, so haven't been able to get the pictures off my camera and onto this blog. I know, enough excuses already. On to pigs!!

We celebrated Oliver's 4th birthday a little belatedly this year. Right around his bday, he wasn't doing too well with his teeth. He was off-food a bit...but luckily with another toothtrim and lots of TLC, he perked back up and is doing fine now. And he looked fine, too! Seems he couldn't decide between his party hat and his tiara.

1. A tasty bell pepper tower treat; 2. Brothers share; 3. He's the prettiest birthday boy! 4. Still calm and enjoying food; 5. And then a feeding frenzy tug-of-war! 6. Don't worry, they made up and had a nice cuddle.

Man oh mantel

It took a lot of hard work and elbow grease, but we finally got the mantel restored. We managed to clean out all the nasty crusties (as best we could, considering all the fancy woodwork) with some skinny chisels and screwdrivers. The mantel has actually been completed for a while now. I'm just behind on this blog, go figure. Here are the After pictures. We did several coats using Formby's Tung Oil, which makes for a nice finish, as it turns out! Super easy to use, too. Just put some on a rag, rub it into the wood, and let dry.

1. Ahh, so much nicer! 2. Crusties be gone. 3. No more wine glass stain, yay. 4. Even Horse seems happy about his new home.

Say it ain't so

Meet Gray Hair #3. I woke up one morning in late June 2009 and found this little guy. It's my third gray (and the second one I've found since becoming a homeowner), but it is the first one documented and snapped in the wild. My very first gray came shortly after I turned 30. During that time, I guess the stress of being unemployed, living rent-free at my brother and sister-in-law's house, eating all their food, and making a me-sized dent in their couch while I caught up on 6 years of CSI: reruns in 3 months finally took its toll on me.

They say if you pluck a gray hair, three friends will come to its funeral. Oh well.

PS. It is not easy taking a picture of a gray hair up against a gray wall.

Home Improvement, Episode 1

I'm living in a Victorian that dates back to the mid-1880s. I wish I knew the stories behind this place. Who used to live here way back then? What were they like? How many different events, eras, styles has this ol' lady seen over the past 120+ years? "Ohhh if these walls could talk!" (Please envision campy early morning basic cable tv anchor now.)

[Editor's note: There used to be a hilarious rant here about the previous owners, but the BF thought it was too harsh. So I deleted it to be nice. Awww. Back to being Serious Me.]

One outstanding architectural detail is the fireplace mantel, which is beautifully crafted and original to the house. Unfortunately it's seen better days. A lot of the finish has been worn away, there are some bad stains and scratches and gouges, and I think someone painted it white at one time (egad). It's just sad to see. However, it's structurally solid and the wood is in good condition (as in, not rotting away!). So the BF and I set out to restore it to its original luster over Memorial Day weekend. What I thought was going to be a 2-day project turned into an ongoing one. We sanded and sanded and sanded some more. We suited up with some SARS masks and eye goggles but still managed to inhale about 2lbs of sawdust and stain our eyes a nice shade of bloodshot. As Mom so eloquently put it: We'll appreciate it all the more when it's done.

Check out the Before pix below. Stay tuned for the After.

(1. Ye olde mantel; 2. Grosso wine stain (for once not by me!) that is still there and a real pain to get out; 3. Nasty 120-year old crud; 4. Lingering white paint and more crud.)

The BF did get a new toy out of this project!

I joked that he should sup it up with a car battery like Tim the Tool Man Taylor, then realized I made a family-show-from-the-90s reference and felt stodgy and uncool. Happy Memorial Day Weekend!! (to be continued...)

2009 Open Studios show

Over Mother's Day weekend, I had my 2nd successful (and fun!) Open Studios jewelry show, hosted again by the BF's family at their home/backyard. The weather was gorgeous and perfect and so many old friends, family, and neighbors stopped by. There were also a lot of new faces, people in the area checking out the other Open Studios going on. SugarCube Jewelry was a hit! I surpassed my sales from last year, even tho I slashed my prices. And my "not in this economy" cheapie earring rack was really hot. I was all about clearing out inventory this year and making room for the new. Isabelle did really well too, selling more paintings this year than last. Safe to say we'll be doing this again!

The only thing that could have gone better this weekend was if I had not been sleep-deprived. It's my own fault of course. I had this great idea to give each piece of jewelry a code on the back of the price tag, then match up the code with the file name of the jewelry's photo. That way, when a piece was sold, I simply would have to write down the code and could reference exactly which piece it was later. Sounds pretty straight-forward, right? Well, I'm an admitted neat-freak and I do love order, but as much as I adore Martha Stewart, my digital photos are a complete mess. Nothing is organized or sorted in any logical way. So this great idea turned into an even bigger nightmare--if you can have a nightmare without sleep. The BF and I were up til 6AM tying price tags and tagging photo file names. (Now that is love, folks.) We had just enough time for a one and a half hour "power nap" before packing up and being down in the South Bay by 9AM. (The show went from 11AM to 5PM.) By the end of the day, I was running on 100% caffeine fumes, but still managed to visit a friend's newborn baby after dinner that night before hitting up a backyard BBQ birthday party. Got into bed by 2AM to do it all over again on Sunday. Who says I'm old? I did less in my 20s!



Above are photos of my "shop". I changed up some of my displays. The handy BF made more frames. (He got a new set of power tools out of this project!) And to cover the tables, I used some free fabric from work that I actually like in that Miss-Marple's-living-room sort of way.

Some close-up shots of my work:

We're havin' a heat wave...

... a tropical heat wave. Last week we had some serious highs--it was like living on the face of the sun! All right, so there was no humidity and it really never got above 90 in the city, but this is San Francisco and we can't take the heat. It was quite balmy though...

Bright sunshine and blue skies might make for great people watching at Dolores Park, but warm weather is not fun for pigs. It was 85 degrees inside and with no fans and no breeze, the poor little creatures were in the hot seat. Here they are relaxing (on our new couch!) with some frozen water bottles. (Better pix of the couch to come...)


Last pic: That's Rusty cooling down his backside while he noses into a paper bag. Silly, smart, or just plain gross?

We've been keeping a close watch on Oliver lately. He still goes into the vet for monthly toothtrims for his malocclusion. He also seems to have chronic breathing problems/wheeziness, which are related to his teeth and the way he eats. Dr. Herman believes that he aspirates bits of food from time to time, causing bacteria to develop in his lungs. He's had several bouts with pneumonia and fluid in his chest over the past year because of it. He's on a new kind of antibiotic called doxycyclene, as well as a diuretic (furosemide) and an anti-wheezer (aminophylline) when/if he needs it. Dr. Herman thinks Olive is a bit of a mystery, but she's practicing good medicine on him and the BF and I are very attentive Food Guy and Pig Mom, respectively. Being a Pig Mom is hard work, and part of that means I worry about him all the time. He's just the sweetest, gentlest pig. And for the most part, he's happy, energetic, has a good appetite and loves spending time with Russ. Rusty continues to entertain us with his spunk and to amaze us as a butternut squash on legs. His last weigh-in: 1435 grams, which means he actually lost about 25 g! (For perspective, Oliver is a slim 1140 g.)

Miles and a Milestone

On March 15, I finally got off my pasty arse and ran my first race. It was the Emerald Across the Bay 12K (which is about 7.5 miles for us metrically challenged). The course was a fantastic tour-bus route around SF. It started across the bay at Fort Baker, went over the Golden Gate Bridge (epic!), through Chrissy Field, past Marina Green, and ended up at Aquatic Park/Ghiradelli Square. Pretty awesome. I felt great, had my iPod blaring, and soaked up the scenery... with "soaked" being the operative word. It rained the entire time! Everyone was drenched and freezing before we even boarded the buses to take us to the starting point. Puddles, mud, rain pelting you in the face--it was a soggy, sloshy mess and I had a blast! No pictures of me will be posted at this event, obvi. Thanks to the BF and fam for coming out to support me!

Happy birthday Mom!

April 4: It's not every day that yo mama turns 60. We all surprised her at dinner at an Italian restaurant, then went back to Steve's place for dessert. I wanted to make something special, but couldn't decide between something chocolatey/different and something fresh/fruity and seasonal. Since it was my mom's birthday, I thought it was appropos to employ one of the life lessons I learned from her when I was in my teens. [Picture this: you're at the mall and can't decide what to buy: the Hypercolor tee that changes color with body heat, or the fluorescent pink sweatshirt with "totally rad" on it. Mom's sage words of advice: Get them both.] Above are pics of the finished desserts. Spring cupcakes with lavender icing a la my hero Martha Stewart (left), and enormous individual strawberry shortcakes, recipe courtesy of celeb chef Michael Mina (right). I was a bit of a whirling dervish in the kitchen (naturally I overslept that day and was pressed for time!), but still managed to snap some pics of my progress:



1. Letting the shortcake dough rest; 2. Chopping; 3. Whipping; 4. Best part about whipping, licking the beaters; 5. Cooling; 6. Icing (and appropriately dressed in Culinary Academy apron!)

I heart Heart Day

This year, like many years past, we celebrated Valentine's Day at home. The BF loves to cook and I love to eat, so you see, it's a perfect match. This year we (meaning he) made Chilean sea bass encrusted with walnuts. It was flaky and buttery and so delicious--probably the best fish I've ever had! On the side were brussel sprouts with bread crumbs, lemon and sage, and everyone's favorite ancient grain: kasha. For real, it was good! We deviated from our usual red wine and paired our dinner with a very tasty chardonnay (Husch 2007), followed by yummy desserts from Miette (banana creme tart, chocolate ganache heart-shaped minicake, and a chocolate fudge tart), which we polished off with a lovely port. (Thanks, Matt!) Needless to say, we had our elastic-waist pants on.

1-3. Food, glorious food! (and drink) 4. Even on Valentine's Day, Oliver gets all the lovin'!

P.S. Those are our new tables and rug (and, in the background, the lamp that we lugged all the way back from Morocco last year). Our rooms are starting to come together. Very. Slowly. More pics to come...

Highway to the Pigger Zone

The holidays are over. It's February and I'm like the person who still has their Xmas lights up or something. Anyhow, here are some pix of how the piggies spent Xmas '08. Mostly they enjoyed eating the tree. And taking a doze under it. And then eating more of the tree. Oh and eating wrapping paper. As long as they weren't nibbling wires, I let them have their fun.

The top left pic is kinda cute of Oliver on the pig highway. When the BF saw me laying down the "road" (an old Mexican blanket and beach towels), he just shook his head and left the room. Ok Highway P.I.G. might be a bit much, but how else was Oliver going to get to that delicious noble fir? That dainty pig refuses to walk on our wood floors, preferring the carpeted hallway. He took right to the pig highway tho, zooming thru the living room and straight under the tree.

Rusty on the other hand (paw?) doesn't seem to mind the wood floors one bit. We always know where he is--we just listen for toenails.

Fa la la party

We had friends and fam over for our first holiday party on Dec. 13th. It was a very fun night--a great mix of people, festive music (Thanks Karley and Monique!), lotsa booze and good times. We partied like rock stars til 5am. Luckily our new downstairs neighbors hadn't moved in yet!

The food:
The BF prepared everything except the cookies. I just found some of the recipes and said, "Hey, can you make this?" We went with slightly more palate-challenging apps than the usual chips and dips. The menu was a big hit. Our lovely friends brought empty tummies and open minds. Everything tasted great!


(1. Sausages w/ hot mustard; goat cheese cheeseball with scallions and parsley; 2. Bleu cheese cheeseball with walnuts; veggies & dip; 3. Bacon-wrapped dates stuffed with pistachios & apricot; 4. Baguette toasts with romesco sauce and carmelized onions & mushrooms (the BF's creation); my slightly overcooked (read: hard as rocks) chocolate chip cookies. You can't save 'em all, Hasselhoff!)



The decorations:
Here are some pics of our living/dining rooms before the party. You can't really tell in this picture, but the piggy cage is decorated with little LED twinkle lights. Heh. Yes, I need help.

The drinks:

In addition to the usual bar staples and mixers, we also served mocha nog and mulled wine. Well, I can't believe I didn't take pics of the drinks table! I must've put down the camera in exchange for a glass...