January 2011

1.28.2011

this weekend...

While Wanda Jackson is playing in the background, I'm packing for a fun-filled weekend in Las Vegas. I haven't seen the mr in 3 weeks. We are meeting in sin city to see what kind of trouble we can get into. We were married there almost 31 years ago. What a day that was. Larry and i, both wearing levi's and cowboy boots, squeezed into his dad's brand new porsche and zipped to vegas and tied the knot. His dad was our only witness. So this morning i click over to the lovely Patricia Van Esche and see her beautiful drawing of a weekend valise and decided to take a picture of mine and wish you all a fun-filled weekend too. See you next week, with lots of pictures of food and fashion.

janet

1.26.2011

dinner for one*

While larry is away I like to indulge in a few of my favorite foods that he doesn't like. One of which is mushrooms. I adore mushrooms in any form and he hates them. So tonight I threw this little mushroom pizza together with an arugula salad. The whole shebang is courtesy of trader joes. I bought their herbed pizza dough and divided it in half. I sauteed a few of their vine-ripened tomatoes with some mushrooms, s&p, and a few red pepper flakes with a drizzle of agave. I rolled out the dough, placed it on a preheated pizza stone and slathered on the thick sauce. Into a 450 degree oven for oh, about 25 minutes. Have you ever tried their Goddess salad dressing? omg it's so good and it's vegan. I discovered it one day while shopping and a mom with 3 kids in her cart stopped in front of the salad dressing and they all started shouting...goddess mommy, goddess. I'm like wtf? They left and I grabbed a bottle and have been hooked ever since. Goddess Mommy Goddess.

So that means...

*no animals were harmed making this pizza

janet

1.25.2011

7 things

Recently, Blighty bestowed the stylish blogger award to me. Thank you dear Blighty for making me laugh every time i read your blog. Now i'm supposed to tell you 7 things about me that you don't know. I feel as if i have already told you everything about me but i'll give it a go...

1. You already know that i like to sneak into movies but I have to report that sneaking in, or more accurately, walking past the teenage ticket taker, no longer does it for me. It is too easy and i no longer get the racing heart that i once did. This worries me (and larry) as I wonder how I'm going to ratchet up this game.

2. Thanks to blogging I can spell fuchsia and privilege without having to use spellcheck.

3. My husband and i met when we were 17. It was not love at first sight. In fact, the reverse. But he finally charmed me with his considerable talents, such as the one above.

4. Our oldest son will be 32 this year and Jack White will be 35. This bothers me, but obviously not enough.

5. A few things I won't miss when I'm dead...tweezing pubic hairs (others, not my own.) facebook, twitter and texting, blow-drying my hair straight and driving.

6. I can give a complete facial massage with my eyes closed.

7. Right now potatoes are my favorite food. Fried, mashed, baked, whatever, i can't get enough of them.

Thank you to everyone who reads my blog. And thank you to those who take the time to leave me a comment. I would love to extend this award to a couple of blogs that i have recently found and enjoy.

share my garden

the world through my eyes

1.24.2011

aging and fun

Wanda Jackson

Last night I had one of the funnest nights of my life. I went to Hollywood to see Wanda Jackson perform with my boyfriend, Jack White. Normally I get a little jealous when Jack is on stage with another beautiful woman but last night, i set aside all pettiness and thoroughly enjoyed watching this duo on stage. OMG, is all i can say about Ms Jackson. She is 73! Twenty years older than me. As I stood waiting for the show to begin and wishing i had not worn heels b/c my feet, legs and back were beginning to hurt after a long day of walking, out comes Wanda in all her gorgeousness and begins to belt out hit after hit, standing her own next to the bundle of energy that is Jack White. Now i don't know about you, but most of the 73 year old women i know would not be able to do this. After all this was her third night on the road. The two previous nights she was in New York performing and will perform again tonight. She was on Letterman on Thursday night and will be on Conan tomorrow night. That's a lot of being "on" for anyone, let alone a 73 year old. I would love to sit down with her and hear her secrets on maintaining her energy level and general sense of happiness that she exuded. She was so charming while relating endearing stories about working with Jack and even a few of when she dated Elvis. All night as I observed her on stage, one thing kept coming to mind...boy is she having a LOT of fun. I think I may on the right track, but first I'm going back to bed.

janet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoAQz4KLa2g

1.21.2011

chocolate chip oatmeal cookies*

As my cleanse is almost over (yay), I'm dying, dying I say for some chocolate chip cookies. In my book there are few things better than chocolate chip cookies and an ice cold glass of soymilk. Well maybe there are lots of things better but this is way up on my list. Here is my recipe, you'll note it's pretty healthy. I like the slight taste of banana with chocolate and walnuts but if you don't, just use your regular egg substitute.

1/2 c room temp earth balance

1/2 c brown sugar

1 egg substitute (i use 1/2 ripe, mashed banana for this)

1 t vanilla extract

1 c whole wheat flour

1 t baking soda

2 T soymilk

1 c oats

3/4 c chocolate chips

1/2 c walnuts

In a bowl cream margarine for 30 seconds and then add 1/2 c brown sugar. beat til fluffy. add egg substitute and vanilla extract, beat until well combined. stir in flour, baking soda and soymilk. add oats, chocolate chips and walnuts. use a teaspoon to drop cookies onto baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 12-14 minutes.

makes approximately 24 cookies

*no animals were harmed making these cookies

1.19.2011

meanwhile...

Back at the ranch i've been working on having fun. That just doesn't sound right but it's true. We've been hiking quite a bit and enjoying the most unbelievably beautiful weather. Here we are at Whitewater Canyon Preserve. It's on your way to Palm Springs if you're ever in the area. It's part of the Pacific Crest Trail, something larry dreams of hiking one day. Check out the mileage from here. I could go visit Leslie and Terri up in Canada. When Larry says he is taking me to Mexico, I think this is his plan.

Look at this delicious Asian Tofu Salad I had with my friend Connie at Caprice Cafe in Redlands.

She took the pic with her iphone but look at the tofu! Doesn't it look delicious?

omg, it was so good.

This is a Pumpkin and Toasted Walnut Pasta dish I created.

In a saute pan combine...

1/2 c pumpkin

1/4 c soymilk

1/2 cup vegetable broth

1 t chopped fresh sage

1/4 - 1/2 t red pepper flakes

season with salt and pepper

top with 1/2 c toasted walnuts

heat through and reduce until desired thickness and toss with pasta.

Delicious. Larry says I always say to add too many red pepper flakes.

I say really?

So do as you see fit.

I'm also smack dab in the middle of a 2 week whole body cleanse.

I try to do this once a year. Have you ever done one?

I buy my cleanse tablets at the health food store and pick one loaded with lots of valuable herbs and roots to help detoxify all 7 of the body's elimination systems.

Oh the Fun.

On Sunday I will be going to see these two (wanda jackson and jack white) in Hollywood.

Now this will be fun.

janet

1.18.2011

julie lorusso

I can't say enough good things about Ms. Julie Lorusso. She has become a dear friend of mine through blogging. Blog or no blog she will always be my friend and whenever I need a special piece of jewelry she will be the first place i visit. While i'm on the subject of blog friends, i'm actually tired of that phrase. After all if i've known you since kindergarten do i refer to you as my kindergarten friend. Or say we met at Target one day, are we forever Target friends? So from now on if i met you through blogging you are officially one of my regular friends. Ok, now back to Julie. She is having her one year anniversary giveaway extravaganza over at her blog Monkey Grass Hill. Please go visit her and say hi and enter her giveaway. Julie created the two bracelets above for me based on just a few facts she knew about me. They are so me it isn't even funny. They are both freshwater pearls each with a unique clasp. One has a vintage earring that she converted to a clasp and the other has a beautiful sterling clasp and turquoise stone. I wear them both endlessly. They go well with herringbone, denim and look beautiful with a little black dress. Talk about versatile. So please do yourself and go check out her giveaway and take a look at her gorgeous laundry room/pantry makeover.

And tell her i said hi.

janet

1.13.2011

project 333 continues

black gap pencil skirt, old navy chambray shirt, brooks bros belted peacoat, tights, kitten heels

Sorry I have been away, have you missed me? Hmmmm, you can get back to me on that. And just when I thought Project 333 was over, I found out that they have extended the project for 3 more months. You can read all about the New Rules here. The Be More With Less website is very inspiring and if you have any wardrobe issues at all, I would highly recommend popping over and checking it out. So basically, you get to rotate in 3 new items while rotating out 3 items. There were about 4 or 5 items that I was just not wearing so I think I'll eliminate them and rotate in a couple of accessories. Probably a belt and another bag. But that's about it. For the last 2 days I've been going through my wardrobe yet again and I came up with a Huge hefty bag full of clothing to give away to friends and donate. I dream of having a wardrobe that is small, versatile and stylish. This project is really helping me get to that dream. Another thing that I failed (geez) to mention about this whole project is that it is really, and i mean really helping me define my style. I'm afraid i may have to rename my blog The Herringbone Jacket because I wear it so often and I love it more each time I do.

just to show you that i do wear other things besides herringbone and levi's

How is your closet looking?

janet

1.04.2011

project 333 wrap-up

I just realized that today Project 333 is over. It's been 3 months and boy did it go by fast. You can read about it here. My first thoughts are that I really liked the clothes I picked. There was never an occasion that I felt deprived or wishing I had more choices. My son bought me a shirt and I swapped it out for one I had not worn, but that's the only change I made. Here is my original list of 33...

dark levis

not so dark levis

skinny black pants

black pencil skirt

black dress

chambray shirt

white shirt

rl red flannel

rl blue plaid shirt

red long sleeved t

black thermal

black v neck sweater

black turtleneck

black trenchcoat

cashmere coat

herringbone blazer

black belted blazer

blue plaid pendleton jacket

black loafers

brown oxfords

red cowboy boots

black boots

converse

black kitten heels

pearl bracelet

vintage watch

2 turquoise cuffs

pearl necklace

burberry scarf

1 brown belt

1 black belt

1 brown handbag

On this list, I barely (under 5x) wore these items...

black v-neck sweater

blue pendleton jacket

converse

pearl necklace

I don't know why but I just didn't reach for these items very often.

The biggest lessons I learned is that I do wear the same things over and over. Comfort is really key for me and I think I'd like to do this in the spring/summer and see what I come up with. This has been a really practical experiment for me because I live in such a small house with such limited storage. Now I really need to go through the clothes I didn't wear at all and see what I can get rid of. I'll report back.

1.01.2011

new years resolution

My resolution for this new year is to have more fun. That may sound simple, but for someone like me it is not. I have allowed myself to get into a rut of work/worry and no play. The last few years have been challenging for me emotionally and this year I really want to focus on the funner side of life. I've raised my family and set them free to live their own lives and now it's time to get to know me again. I give you exhibit A of my new project...

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