Food again...this time out with girlfriends!

Can I make you hungry again?

This is what we had: Family Style:

Ahi Tuna Poke (one word...YUM!)
Mediterranean Chicken Salad
Pasta dish with chicken, sun dried tomatoes and goat cheese

Pomegranete Martini's and Ice Tea and two wonderful friends, Andrea and Bahar at the 33rd st Bistro!

PS: When Bahar's daughter gets out of the hospital it is time to start looking for houses in Sac!

Michael Phelps at an early age

Cute!

Let's get back to food.......

First, If you are looking for the bracelet auction, go here.

Blogless Jill, AKA, my neighbor brought us the most delicious tomatoes grown from their own back yard. I really didn't belive that tomatoes, such as these, could be grown in Sacramento. Only I would get excited about a tomato but they were so delicious that I wouldn't dream of cooking them so into a salad they went as the main ingredient! Jill, I would take your home grown veggies anytime!

I also learned a secret to caramelizing onions, starting on a high heat with a little kosher salt and then turning down the heat and adding little bits of water for about 1/2 hour makes the most delicious onions ever known.

Sunday was our Labor Day as Carl worked yesterday. We marinated 2 tri-tips for 48 hours teryaki/red wine marinade and smoked them on a charcoal grill with almond and apricot. Mouth watering delic!

Every Fall I have a treat that I make for my family and friends. It is hugely popular and I always seem to be "re-filling" containers. The treat is candied walnuts but I have a secret ingredient that makes this snack highly addicitive, if you can guess what it is, you will get the first jar of them!

Alexia has been back at school for about 1 week now and Aden starts second grade tomorrow at the most wonderful school! The days are a little longer for him and we also have another girl in our class which will be nice.

Auction to help a family!

Bahar and I on a rare outing away from the hospital.

I am having a silent auction to benefit the Family of Arianna Torrente who has been in the hospital for 11 weeks and is having another surgery this afternoon. Juicy Couture has donated this beautiful bracelet to benefit this family. They specifically picked out this bracelet because it is pink and has a heart, a very Arianna type of bracelet.



Value $88.00 Bidding starts at 8:30AM PST on 8/28 and ends on 9/3 at Midnight. I will deliver or mail it to the highest bidder.

We will start the bidding at $25 and go up in $10 increments. Good Luck!

What is it???

What is it?? If you guess correctly you will win a small something.......

Scary situation!

I wanted to tell you all about a scary situation we just had in our home. Recently, Carl had started feeling very "off", fuzzy, foggy, extreme legarthy. Today, I tried to wake him up after several long nights at the hospital. He said, in his slurred talking, that he needed more rest. I tried to wake several more times and he was confused and couldn't wake up, something was very wrong. After encouragement by several people, I took his perscription to the pharmacy to have them make sure he had the right medication and "voila" they had put the wrong one in his bottle and he was having a terrible reaction to it.

What I want you all to know is at the very bottom of the perscription bottles in teeny, teeny letters, it has an exact description of what should be in that bottle (double checking stuff). Before you give anyone medication check the bottle and compare it to the pill/liquid. If you have any questions, call the pharmacy. This could have been a disaster!

One family Paying It Forward!

Thankyou Andrea!


Arianna Torrente

Please help the Torrente Family

Arianna is a sweet 3-year-old girl. She just had her third open heart surgery in June at Sutter Memorial Hospital in Sacramento. She has had lots of complications and is now in her NINTH week of hospitalization. Her parents, Bahar & Miguel, are from Stockton and have stayed with her as much as possible. They are living at The Sharing Place, which is family housing located right on the Sutter campus. She also has a six-year-old sister who is now staying with them at the hospital since Miguel had to return to work. This week her parents were told it might be another six weeks. That would be fifteen weeks living away from home, missing work, eating every meal out and still paying bills at home.


The Hearts of Hope Support Group would like to support this family by putting on a raffle. Raffle tickets are $10 each or 3 for $25. All the proceeds from the raffle will go directly to the Torrente family to help with their costs associated with this hospitalization.


Prizes are:

$50 Spa Finder Gift Card
$200 MAC Makeup Set
Haircut with Lindsay Sells of Joseph Anthony Salon
$100 Gift Card to Outback Steakhouse


If you are interested in purchasing raffle tickets please contact Andrea Himmelberger at a_himmelberger@hotmail.com or 916-606-7180.

Why do bad things happen to good people??

During a lovely day in San Francisco with my mom, Lex and Aden, I received a phone call. One of the Doctor's, that has taken care of Lexi numerous times,who, at one time, told me to "hold onto hope" at a dire time in our life has just been diagnosed with a temporal brain tumor. (sorry for any run-ons). A few months ago he had been feeling ill and he had a complete work up, including a CT scan and everything was normal. Yesterday, he was feeling poorly, had another CT and there it was. He is currently in the Bay Area and having surgery tomorrow morning. He is a wonderfuly kind man and excellent physician and has made such a difference in our lives. He is only in his late 50's. Please keep him in your prayers and thoughts. I cannot give out his name, but just think of him as Dr. D.

I'm in love

I have been looking for the perfect Spring Roll recipe and have found it! Previously, the best spring rolls could only be found at The Lemon Grass. I was reading a Heart friend's blog, Lindsay, and learned about her cousin, The Rookie Cookie! She had what I was looking for. I have subscribed to Rookie Cookie feeds. My family loved the spring rolls and I made a General Tso/Rice Vinnegar dipping sauce that had a kick! Awesome!

Thankyou!

My brother's Birthday dinner outing!

My two favorite things....Hearts and Food! What a combination!

Outing with Heart Families at Fairytale Town

What an awesome day! Check out Channel 10 at 5:00 and 6:00PM for extensive coverage on our group outing!

Winner Announced

I have chosen the winner through the Random Number Generator and the winning number is 19. Here is the post!

Hmmm. Chocolate, of course. yummy bath products? A great read, and either fabulous tea or coffee to go with it? Hair care stuff. The list is endless. . . (smile)

Thanks!
Heather

Bloggy Giveaways!

My giveaway item this time is a "Mom Goodie Bag", lots of cool stuff inside. All you have to post is, what would you like to see in this bag (no guarantees!).

Good Luck! Winner will be announced on August 2nd.

Kyburz or bust!

The three of us are leaving for the beautiful Sierra Nevada Mountains in Kyburz today. Alexia has opted out do to a work schedule and my mom will be hanging around to make sure she behaves. There is a lovely cabin that we use right along the American River. We will be back on Monday with photos and stories I am sure.

Three Years Ago Today.....

Alexia had just got home after her 5th open heart surgery. Dr. Richard Mainwaring had done a Aortic Valve Replacement with a St. Jude Mechanical Valve. Although recovery went relatively smoothly, we did ride that, all too familiar, rollercoaster breifly. During surgery, Alexia had a complete blood tranfusion, having bled so much and had some difficulty with atrial flutter, where they had to do a cardioversion to get her back in a normal heart rythym. Some of my friends are either going through or have just gone through the ridiculous ride that we all go through when having a child with a CHD and it makes so many memories very fresh! Click on the link above, 5th Open Heart Surgery and humor me through that silly video, it actually makes sense!

Tonight Alexia and I are going to see the Sacramento Music Circus version of Sweeney Todd, unfortunately, Johnny will not be there but I think I can still sit through it!

A Heart Mom Outing!

Front to back left to right. Gina, Amber, Andrea and Me

But really it was just 4 friends going out to dinner and to a musical. Recently, a friend gave me 4 tickets to Gypsy at the Sacramento Music Circus. I decided to invite these 3 ladies and we started off the evening at R15 which, despite a few glitches that Gina quickly resolved, was good and we had a lively time. During dinner, we talked about our heart children, only a few times and no tears were shed. On to the show with only a few minutes to spare. We all needed the night out and I can't wait to do it again.

Birthday Gift

I am in heaven, I received a gift card for William Sonoma from my dear friend Lorraine and today Alexia and I went out and bought this beautiful set of Emile Henry Couleurs Mixing Bowls in this beautiful shade of pink. Only I would get so excited about something like this.

The Simple Woman’s Daybook–July 12th

The Simple Woman’s Daybook–July 12th
FOR TODAY–July 12th

Outside my window…heat and smoke!

I am thinking…that some wine and a delicious dinner with my friends tonight is going to be perfect.

I am thankful for…my family and friends.

From the kitchen…Leftovers for my family since I will be out tonight.

I am creating…this blog post instead of doing any sort of house cleaning....which I should be doing instead.

I am going…to actually do something with my hair for tonight, I hope my flat iron still works!

I am wearing tonight these darling shoes that I picked up at Nordstrom the other day.!

I am reading…Katrina Kittles, The Kindness of Strangers

I am hoping…That the weather will stay on the cooler side for Aden's Zoo Camp this week.

I am hearing…nothing.....awwww peace.

Around the house…My kids are playing a board game and my husband is at the gym.

One of my favourite things…is cooking!!!

A few plans for the rest of the week…Lots of cooking and picking up the strange item on the post before this and a couple playdates.

I found this idea on Heart of the Prairie.

Guess what this item is

We are now the proud owners of one of these, it costs $755.00 (not including tax). Can anyone guess what it is?

Lemonade and Taro's!

This past weekend Aden had a brainstorm of an idea to have a lemonade stand. He did all the work himself. He made the sign, set up the table and got the organic strawberry lemonade (from Trader Joes)iced and ready, his cash box and was ready to go. He wanted to be out front of our house and I seriously had my doubts if he would sell anything. He sold for about 2 and 1/2 hours and made $39.30! He was thrilled!

This past Monday Alexia treated our family to Taro's. We love that restaurant and always end the evening with shopping at Barns and Noble.

Yesterday was the first day of our class revolving playdates. Yesterday play day was at my friend Lorraines and today is at my house. We have every day of the week filled with optional play dates at various homes from 1-5PM. With weather at 108, we will surely be in the pool most of the time.