Because of Andrea

I realize that I added a ton of photos to this post, but how else could I help you visualize the beauty of my amazing, imaginary home. Andrea recently posted how she would decorate, and so I decided to do the same as it is one of my favorite daydreaming pastimes while washing dishes. I tag anyone and everyone else to do the same. So fun.
Okay, first of all imagine all the above room completely empty and with more tannish brown tiles instead of red. Got that? Oh and add bigger windows. Now imagine a whole house like that. Ahhh. Nice.
So first off, my bedroom. I love this. Leo hates it. He says you might as well be sleeping on the floor. Ruff. The rug is one of my favorite things in this picture by the way. I do prefer a lighter shade of wood on the bed though. Natural birch to be exact. Dark wood is really popular right now so just imagine all the future pieces of furniture in this post in birch.
I also like this bed and tables, cue the imaginary light birch though.
Again, birch.And this bedspread. I really like it. However, I don't know that it's THE ONE. I've never found one that I liked way more than three other ones that were completely different. Apparently, I never know what I really want there .
Now, moving on to the living room. Okay, remember the first picture. Wouldn't this couch be such a better fit?
And this chair.
I also like this chair, and perhaps more importantly, the color of the upholstery. That's the color of my couch now. Love it.
The problem with my imaginary decorating, is that I can never decide if I want to go more minimalist modern or tribal/romantic/funky for lack of a better description. The above chair would go in my more romantic house.
So, with that in mind, on to the imaginary dining room. Love the colors in this and the chairs. Not so much the top of the table. If you haven't noticed, my palette would be neutrals, tans, and mossy greens with maybe a splash of red or cobalt blue just for fun.
This was mine and Leo's favorite dining table set. It's from Target. However, we both wish it came in a natural birch. And then that we had money.

Leo and I both loved this as well. I just don't like how on the cabinet thingy (can't think of the name right now) that it doesn't have handles. I don't like it when they don't have handles. I guess I could add them though if someone were to give me this. So I wouldn't complain.
On to the accessories and other furnishings for a while. LOVE this bookcase.


And could you just imagine this in my beautiful flower filled backyard patio?



Some beautiful vases or a bowl like this here and there.
Pillows like this on the couch above with maybe one or two with blue or red embroidery.


This certainly would fit into my more modern imaginary house. I love it.
This however, would definitely go into my more tribal house. I love it equally too. Actually I was extremely tempted to buy this one, so I might like it a bit more than the mirror above.


I love the whole wrought iron designs that are in style right now, I'm just worried that they'll look so dated in a couple of years. Plus, Leo doesn't like them that much.

Now this mirror, Leo and I BOTH loved it. And I was extremely tempted to buy this as well. Especially since Leo liked it as much as me. He wasn't as fond of the wood carvings above. This map, (it's leather) I AM going to buy. Maybe as a present to myself when we buy our first house. Leo likes it as much as me too.
I know a lot of people don't care about light fixtures. I'm not one of those people. I imagine something like this.

Okay, now this really is my decorations for my living room. I've had this planned out since college. Fortunately for me, Leo's okay with this too. I want to decorate with musical instruments from all over the world. I think some instruments are so beautiful and it would be unusual and fun.
Hopefully, I'll be able to gather these instruments on my own travels around the world. But otherwise there's great import stores on the web.
If I were to put up some pictures, I think I'd hang ones by famous painters and just hang small ones in little spots that you have to move in closer to see.
Like this one, in my kitchen.


Or this one, definitely a more romantic one, propped up on a bookshelf.
Isn't this a fun one too. I really like it.

However, Leo prefers something like this. I don't mind it either. I would do this one big though. Maybe in our bedroom.
We both like this too. Again, bedroom maybe?I still love Russian impressionism though. I'd have to chose a rather bland one to suite Leo but the above trees I really like. It's calming.

And last but certainly not least, our kitchen. Finally, the type and color of wood we like!!! I like this kitchen so much. Except the dark countertops and flooring. And I would put in tile more exciting and global instead of that purplish/blue back splash they have.

Like this.

Yes, I realize these stairs are hideous. But imagine that I made them with cool tile like the one already pictured, and think how neat they would look.Also, as a final note. I wouldn't really make my door like this, but if it already was like this, I wouldn't complain a bit. And that's it. That's my imaginary house. I hope you enjoyed the tour.

To answer some questions

Bleedscrews are little screws used in a braking system for cars. There's a thousand in a box. It takes me forty-five minutes to sort through one box, for which I get paid 10 dollars. It's not too bad, except my wrists hurt so much that I can't do pushups. As for it being an at home job, that's more or less because I got the job from one of my good friend's husband. He's Leo's good frien too. He manages an office here that imports parts from Europe and then he sends them out to the American companies.

As for the fried bananas, I had some at that resturant and thought they were tasty so I wanted to try making them myself. They weren't quite as good. Basically, it's just brown sugar and butter you fry them in with a little bit of cinnamon. It's kind of like baked apple. They are good, but probably not something I'll be making a lot.

Wed. Reminisce Willard Part Dos

This was the first house my parents built in Willard. I loved that house. We had so much fun there. One time, my friend Casey was visiting from Layton and Kayli, Wyatt, Casey and I decided to go on a hike. So up the mountain we went (there was a trail that started where our driveway ended, hunters and horseback riders used it all the time) to the canal road. We followed that past the gravel pit to the canyon (you'll see in the pictures below.) Of course we took our dog, Dolly. Dolly was the awesomest dog ever, but that's for another day. On this particular instance, Dolly was actually the root of all our problems.

My goal, (I don't know about anyone else's) was to make it to these waterfalls that are at the far end of the canyon.

Okay, here's the picture to explain it all. Our house was up on the side of the mountain to the left of the gravel pit. We went down into the canyon between the Willard Thrust. (Handy that I found a picture with so much already explained.) There's a ravine there with a stream that runs from the waterfalls down to well, I don't know where, probably Willard Bay or the canal system or something.

We followed the stream a while and then decided to cross it. Kayli, Wyatt, and I had no problems. Casey fell in. It was cold water and the stream was going fairly fast since it was spring and had all the snow runoff. So we sat a while to let Casey dry a bit and ate the sandwiches my mom had packed us. Yummy. Then, we decided we didn't want to keep going up the ravine but instead try to find a trail higher up. When we tried to get out of the ravine, we tried the way we had come down first, only Dolly wasn't making it. It wasn't a cliff face by any means, but it was fairly sheer. So we came back down and being the absolutely brilliant children we were, we tried going up a slope of shale. Umm, yeah. Wyatt made it first, sending a rock the size of a soccer ball down that missed Casey's head by about a foot. Then when the rest of us were almost up, Casey slipped and slid down the whole way. His legs were all scratched up and bleeding. (I don't know why but we rarely were the ones to get hurt, usually our friends fell victim instead.) So then Kayli and I went back down to help him. Dolly, by the way, hadn't been able to get out that way either.

Another view of the mountains from Willard Bay.

Kayli, Casey, and I decided to go up where we originally had come down and go ask for a rope for Dolly (or something like that) from the men working at the gravel pit. This is where it all went downhill. Really downhill. I stayed with Dolly, while Kayli, Casey and Wyatt went to the gravel pit. Being the genius I am, I used my belt to pull Dolly up the parts that she couldn't clammer up and then went to find the other kids. When I arrived at the gravel pits, there was NO ONE there. It was completely empty. I scanned around a bit but couldn't see anyone. So I decided they must have gone home for rope instead. So I started to walk home, waving blissfully hi to my brother Derek who was working for the Anderson's in their orchard that day as I passed by. I arrived home, and Andrea met me at the door and said the oddest thing, "You've fallen and you can't get up!!" Actually, she more or less shouted it and then laughed hysterically. I gave her a "You're an idiot" look and asked what she was talking about. She explained that the police had called mom saying that I was stuck in a hole in the mountains. I immediately burst into tears thinking I was in HUGE trouble. Andrea was nice and told me to go take a shower (I was rather filthy) and she called the police to tell them that I had definitely not fallen in a hole and I was home safe and sound.

A view of the same canyon from a different direction.

So this is rest of the story. Kayli, Wyatt, and Casey DID go to the gravel pit. Casey apparently started saying, "SHE'S stuck..." and then the man working there, seeing Casey, wet and bleeding, assumed it was another kid. He radioed someone else to call the police and after a few more hasty questions to some very confused kids started running back up the mountainside to where supposedly I was stuck in a hole. Kayli was a little taken aback by all this but not at all worried until the firetrucks arrived. Then she started bawling (thinking she was in deep trouble no doubt). Multiple police cars arrived. A professional mountain climber was called in. They called our mom. She laughed. Literally. I'm not joking. She laughed outright on the phone. She was a little embarrassed after thinking about what the police thought of her, but I guess it was her sixth sense that she knew nothing was wrong. So she drove over to the gravel pit and luckily had not been there long when Andrea called the police. In the end, we had to write notes of apologies to the police department, but that was it. My mom wasn't even mad at us. But as we found out at church the next Sunday, we sure caused a stir .

5th Anniversary

I don't know that I've mentioned this before or not, but lately I've been sorting bleedscrews for a braking system for ten dollars a box. I can do it at home and it's paying for Christmas. Also, it made for Leo's and my 5th anniversary date (it's actually the 28th, but this weekend was more convenient to go out). Thank you, bleedscrews.
You know what? We picked up our babysitter from the train station. Only in Chicago do you do things like that. Crazy, eh? Then we went to Texas de Brazil, a churrascaria. I've wanted to go there since I first saw it in Orlando. It was delicious. I mean literally, words cannot describe how good it was. I was in heaven. It's basically an all you can eat buffet focusing on meat.
See all the different kinds? Servers in gauchos brought the meat around on scewers and you could just pick what you wanted.
I could have spent all my time at the salad bar alone though. I had lobster bisque. Feta cheese spead that was vying for my last bite along with the sushi. Oh, I love sushi. Also, some fancy cheeses from Spain that were so delicious. My other favorite was the roasted red peppers with capers, but there was also asparagus with strawberry relish, heart of palms, artichoke bottoms, smoked salmon, mushrooms in wine sauce, black beans, rice, tabuleh, grilled provolone, pasta, spinach and other salad items, garlic mashed potatoes, Brazilian cheese bread, and more. It was heavenly.
Then the meats. Any kind of meat you could possible dream of. Pork. Chicken. (Okay, I didn't waste time with those.) Lamb. That was really good. I actually had the lamb chops you see in the above picture. Sausages. Flank steak. Tenderloin. Top Sirloin.
My favorite was the filet mignon. I guess I inherited my mother's expensive tastes (I don't know where SHE got them from), because I wouldn't waste my time on anything but that if I went again. Anyway, we cetainly paid for it, but I guess once in five years it's okay to splurge like that, right? Again, thank you bleedscrews.
After we went to the The Dark Knight at the dollar theater (have to save money somewhere). It was too freaky for me. I don't think I'd watch it again. Well done though. I just think it's not very entertaining to see something that depressing. Leo loved it though. Anyway, I'd be perfectly happy to repeat our dinner in another five years, if not the movie.

This week in snapshots

So sweet.

Elena "helping" Dad fix Ana's bike.

Pandequeso. YUM.

Fried bananas. YUM.

Ana loves pandequeso. Isn't she a great model?

Elena, late at night when she should have been sleeping. I'm thinking of cutting out her nap. Any advice?

Cutie pie Isabel.

I was trying to get her to smile. Leo decided to speed her up.

Again, so cute!

Isabel is thinking, "She's my sister?!? I have to live with her????"

No words for that.

Isabel, a little startled by the flash.