So the blog comes to an end...

But not forever!

Steve & I decided we should have a combined blog.  What's this nonsense about updating two blogs when we're married & sharing our lives together?  :)  So with that being said, I want to introduce you to...(drumroll please)...

lipetzkybrewpub.blogspot.com

Our old blogs will remain alive & available for viewing, but we'll discontinue posting on those & going forward, will continue amusing you with our adventures on the new blog.  (Please update your blog links)

We're still working out the finer details (such as having more than one author & making sure we're both on the profile), so hang in there as we figure out the kinks.

See you on the other side!

"Hi. My name is Brewer. I love peanut butter."

We don't give our dogs entire jars of peanut butter.  Sometimes they help themselves when we're not home.

But we really did give Brewer this jar.  If we empty a jar of peanut butter (which is quite often in this PB-lovin home), we scrape out all that we can & give it to the dogs to clean the rest.  They.love.it.  Brewer, bless his heart, is a dopey dog that has nothing but love to give.  And damnit if he isn't proud of his toys.  He carried this jar around for what seemed like hours.  Walk into the bedroom?  He followed behind with his jar.  Try to shut the door to use the bathroom?  He pushed the door open with his massive forehead & brought his jar.  This boy has my heart by the strings.  *Sigh*

(And for the life of me, I cannot figure out why Blogger insists on turning the top picture on its side - I've adjusted it so it isn't too big for the site & tried everything to turn it back...no luck)

Lovely weekends

I've been feeling very much a homebody lately.  I've always enjoyed relaxing time at home, but it comes in phases (wholly depends on how much traveling I've done).  For the last year, we've traveled quite a bit; Boston for a wedding, holidays at parent's houses, trip to Cuba, preparations for our wedding in Rapid City (takes the cake for busiest time of year), honeymoon in OR, & Steve's cousin's wedding in Sioux Falls...and various other short trips thrown in there.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE traveling, but it can take a toll.

I've been stubborn about being home on the weekends recently.  Not necessarily everyday, all day - going out for a drink with friends is fairly common on the weekends - but I love getting off work on Friday & knowing I have a weekend filled with sleeping in, running, naps, working in the yard, baking, cooking, eating, drinking...

This weekend was one of those weekends.  :)  Saturday was rainy & cold, but I can't say I got much done.  Sunday was a different story.  Baked two loaves of pumpkin bread, cooked a batch of tomato sauce, prepared ingredients for French bread to begin rising on Monday morning, re-potted several indoor plants, & cleaned the chicken coop to prepare it for winter.  Success!  It helps the weather was fabulous on Sunday...sadly, probably one of our few nice days left for the year.

And then there were three!

I'm like a proud Mama Bear...three of the four chickens are now laying!  I tried to snap a picture tonight of the three different eggs, but my camera battery died & I'm simply too lazy at the moment to charge it.  We'll have plenty more eggs...more opportunities to snap a picture.  

The pictures below are of the first two girls & their eggs...  The brown egg we believe is from Fenway, our Plymouth Rock White.  The green is most likely from our Ameraucana (or Auraucana or Easter Egger - each type of chicken is hard to define so we're not sure exactly what type of chicken she is, but she does have the blue egg gene).  These eggs can, depending on the type of bird, range in any color of blue, green, pink, yellow, or khaki.  The newest egg is more similar to the green egg in size & shape, but it is a pinkish tan.

And to follow, a few pictures I snapped of blackbirds splashing around in a puddle across the street.  They're not the most endearing bird - loud, raucous, & they run off the cuter birds - but it was fun to watch them in a moment of play...

Honeymoon

My wonderful husband planned our honeymoon as a wedding gift to me.  The trip?  A bike ride through Willamette Valley wine country, staying at adorable B&B's, tasting fabulous wine, & checking out the beautiful scenery.  We started out the trip by meeting up with Dan & Linds for a super fun night out on the town.  The next day, we packed it in & started our trip. A few pictures from the adventure:

Dinner at our first B&B

We were going to out to a restaurant, but our "mom" laid out a large tray of local cheeses, spreads, olives, & homemade bread with a bottle of local wine.  We made it dinner &  it was divine.

Loading up the bikes at Pedro's house

We're ready!

Hops!  There are fields & fields of hops.  Steve was salivating.

Does anyone know what this flower is?  We couldn't get over the blue color.  From far away, it honestly looked like a pond on someone's property.  The flowers didn't smell very nice, but they had the most beautiful color.  And the bees were going crazy.

Close up

At our second-to-last B&B (& my favorite), the husband & wife allowed us to borrow their car to drive into town for dinner.  This is us by the car - we were so incredibly grateful!  We were able to shower & dress up for a nice dinner & drinks in town.  No bikes for the night.  :)

We had a wonderful time & highly recommend Willamette Valley for their wine country.  Wonderful wineries & the people that run them, delicious wine, bounties of delectable restaurants, & the most charming B&B's.  We hope to go back someday!  (Although we'll probably take our car next time & use the bikes for day trips :))

What's this? A blog?

It's been awhile since posting...and for that, I apologize.  It's been a busy summer - to say the least.  Here's a quick recap:

We got married....

I love that our first dance picture so closely resembles our cake topper

We've continued to work on the yard...

This area of the yard does not grow grass very well (so abundantly obvious in this picture), so we're working on maintenance free landscaping (note the rock path, the mulch, & addition of native, drought-tolerant plants).  The V-section between the slate path & the sidewalk will probably slowly become grass-free.  Our plans include semi-permanent "hot boxes" (small moveable "greenhouses" that we'll make using old windows from the house) & continuing to add the maintenance free landscaping.  A work in progress...

We've continued raising our four chickens...

The coop (with hops sitting on top of the weather proofing tarp)

The girl(s) have made us proud & begun laying eggs...  

(At this point we don't know who is laying the eggs, but we're almost positive it's Fenway, the Plymouth Rock White.  The pattern tends to be one egg every other day, although we had two days in a row of eggs.  They're small, closer to the size of a medium egg in the store, but delicious!)

We've been canning...

Apple sauce (with apples from a wild apple tree on one of Steve's project sites) & strawberry apple sauce

Canned peaches & peach salsa (not pictured)...

And chokecherry jelly from the abundantly wild chokecherry bushes around town...

And of course, we've participated in numerous races, both around town & outside the area.  (Sadly, no pictures of those at the moment)

That's our life in a nutshell for the past few months.  Regular blog posting shall now resume!  :)

Wedding Photos, Round 1

Instead of inundating blogger with pictures, check out the link below with our first set of wedding photos:

http://www2.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=4477756007/a=60502644_60502644/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

(And sorry for being so distant, I blame it entirely on wedding planning.  But now that I'm not wedding planning, I have no excuses)  :)

Engagement Pics

Aw, why so sad Steve?

The lovely & talented Lindsay was kind enough to oblige us in taking our engagement photos.  A sampling of her wonderful work...

Giving back

For the first (successful) time, I had my blood drawn today & it went swimmingly.  I'm excited to do it again!  I don't think anyone can beat the feeling of knowing how much you're giving back to society.  This could save someone's life - pretty heavy stuff.

I've always been hesitant to give blood & I can remember the exact moment my hesitation was spurred.  While in college at the lovely & historic College of William & Mary, one of the philanthropic clubs held one of their many blood draws.  Being a good person (in my humble opinion) & wanting to give back to society, I make my way over the Student Union, signed up, answer all the necessary questions, & sit down in their comfy "lounge" chairs.  I'm ready to rock & roll.  A lady swings by & we chat while she preps everything for the blood draw.  No problemo, I'm feeling good - I've never had an aversion to blood.  Just ask my mother - while I was a youngster, I watched my dad sew up his foot after splitting it open on a dock tie-up.  Cool stuff.  I've got my arm out, she's giving it a good swab, out comes the needle...

And this is where it goes downhill.  I don't know if they hired this woman off the street, but she was the worst vein-finder-blood-drawer lady EVER.  She.could.not.find.my.vein.  OUCH.  So she's poking around my arm like I'm a pin cushion.  Then decides to switch arms.  Oh, ok, my right arm is now Swiss cheese, let's move to the left arm.  She finds a vein.  Holy shit, I wipe the sweat from my brow & force a grin across my face.  "Sure, no problem, I'm fiiiiiine."  Meanwhile, I'm praying to Allah, God, Jesus Cristo, the Sun God, Buddha, William & Mary...any deity or other-worldly figure that might bring me mercy.  So the blood finely starts flowing.

And then it STOPS.  

WTF.

She decides it's time to "adjust" the needle.  It might have felt better stabbing a dull nail into my eye repeatedly.  After what feels like an eternity (or the same length as an Economics class), which is probably only a matter of minutes, she makes the brilliant decision to stop what she's doing.  And says to me:

"Ok, so, you have extremely small veins & the blood has clotted, which means it will not provide enough blood for a full draw.  When it comes to drawing blood, in a "normal" person (um, am I not normal?), the needle is like a toothpick & the vein is like a drinking straw.  With your veins, the needle is like a toothpick & your vein is like a COFFEE STRAW.  You know, those little tiny coffee straws?  That's what your vein is like."

Oh.  Great.  Both of my arms hurt like hell & no blood to show for.

That was the last time I donated blood...until today!  Since that day at William & Mary, I've always made it very very VERY clear to anyone wielding a blood-drawing needle that I have VERY SMALL veins.  Today was no exception.  And it worked!  First time try & they found a big, puffy vein.  I filled my quotient quickly (they told me several times my blood was flowing very well - I was like proud mama bear) & after eating an unnecessary amount of Oreos - because, you know, I just gave blood & need the sugar (ha!) - was on my way back upstairs to my office.

It was a good feeling.  I wore my gauze bandage like a proud Girl Scout showing off her latest badge.  Sign me up for round two.

Miami Visit

Before making the trip to Cuba, we stopped in Miami for a few days to see family & do what Cubans do best...eat & drink.  A few snapshots of the weekend...

Stocking up before the family gathering.

Who let the crazy bandits in the back of the van?

I don't lay claim to him.

The Cuban version of crack.  Seriously.

Apparently it takes THISMANY people to carve a pig.  (Probably not, but the pig carvers do get first dibs).  A family affair.

There is no "waiting in line" at a Cuban pig roast.  Especially when you're family.  If you want some, especially the good pieces, you better shove yourself to the table & start digging in.

Inspecting Cuban treat bags put together by my lovely tia.

A dulce de leche treat.  That little thing is half the size of a yogurt container, filled entirely with dulce de leche.  I was on it like flies on...well, you get the point.

Last but not least, my favorite picture...

My grandpa, "Hot."  When I see him, I'll always be 8 years old &a he'll always be my strong grandpa who made me feel like the prettiest & smartest girl in the world.  I do no wrong in his eyes...the love of a grandfather to his only granddaughter.

He may be aging, but damnit, he still loves his pork.  :)

Debt

I hate debt.

And I hate feeling like my Master's degree was a waste because it left me with a hefty amount of debt (about the same as a really fancy car), but no high paying job to pay down the debt quickly or justify such a lofty education.  I fumbled through 9 months of unemployment & my now steady paychecks are quickly eaten by said debt.  I can write "MA" next to my name.  Whoopdee-freakin-doo.  If I hadn't gone for my Master's, I could be debt-free right now.  My paychecks wouldn't look so small at the end of the day.

Was it worth it?  Maybe eventually it will be.  I pray-hope-BEG it will be worth it.  I like money.  And I like having it, not losing it.

In today's rough & tumble economy, do you think higher education is worth the expense?

*Sigh*

Chicks!

I've been wanting chickens for some time, especially after watching the eye-opening movie "Food, Inc."  Fresh eggs & (some day) fresh chicken meat (after they've lived long, productive lives & no longer produce eggs) enticed us enough to make the leap.  Knowing how the chickens lived (free-range with plenty of exercise & fresh air), what they ate (bugs, grass, all-natural feed), & how they were treated (as spoiled as our pups) makes the decision worthwhile.  Chickens are fairly easy to raise - and they cost approximately $3/chick & a 50 lb feed bag costs about $15.  Do a little research & anyone can raise chickens.

"Athena," an Araucana - she's the biggest of the group (long story, but in some races, they have special groups for "Athena" & "Clydesdale" - runners that are at a higher weight than typical runners).

"Grubby," a New Hampshire Red - she ate the first bug.

"Fenway," a Plymouth Rock White - think of Plymouth Rock, think of Boston, think of Boston, think of Fenway

"Fosters," an Australorp - Australorp...Australia...Fosters!  It's a stretch, but I'm fairly certain the chickens aren't worried about their names.  She's by far our favorite - much more docile & sweet than the others.  The other three are friendly enough, but we picked them up at an older age than typical & I don't think they bonded to us as younger chicks usually do.  Foster seems to be the youngest, so it seems she was more willing to consider us her "parent."

A very curious Brewer.  Guinness cannot be left alone with them (a true bird dog), Brewer is curious but kind of scared, & Gidget could care less.

They've since grown quite a bit, but we haven't had a chance to take pictures.  I'm sure we'll be posting updates, especially after we finish the coop & move them outside in a few weeks (if the weather ever clears...).

Cuba!

Let's ignore the fact that I've been a horrible blogger recently...

Moving on to more exciting things:  Cuba pictures!  Follow the link to see some of our adventures - be warned, this is only a fraction of pictures taken between 6 people!  To see more photos, check out Dan & Linds' blog or Jorge & Linda's blog.

We had a wonderful trip.  Heartbreaking, fun, adventurous, heartwarming, joyful, exciting...to name a few emotions that cross my mind from the trip.  We met dad's family & I can't believe we might never have known these wonderful people (two of his older cousins from his mom's side & their families).  When we first met them, you would never have known we were in a different country, speaking two different languages, & never met before (or seen each other in 48 years, as is the case with Jorge & his two cousins).  Without a doubt, it was obvious we were family.

I hope we can keep our Cuba connection alive.  Someday, I hope we can make our way back to that lovely little island, especially to visit family.  It's true they're repressed, but they are very strong people & they appear to be very happy people.  They may not have much, but they're clean, friendly, & simply make do with what they have.  I won't go into a political discussion, but I hope, not-so-secretly, they don't become an over-commercialized island with a Walmart, McDonald's, & Holiday Inn on every corner.  Not that it will happen if the embargo is lifted, but right now, it's a beautiful place to visit & take a step back in time to a more low-key, relaxed, day-to-day way of life.  If only we could learn to live so simply.

Where does the time go?

I haven't been great about posting.  One would think with unemployment I'd have all sorts of free time, but my schedule at the Y is extremely spread out, so I'll teach a class, have one- or two-hour break, teach another class, etc.  It can get old, but at least they're paid hours.  Needless to say, those one- or two-hour breaks get eaten up pretty quickly.  One of these days I'll get back into a full-time job with a regular schedule...

Until then, I find myself regularly checking blogs.  One blog I've recently discovered & check obsessively is Refrigerator Soup.  It's a blog which features new recipes everyday - they're only requirements to be featured on the site are "great recipes accompanied by great photography."  They keep their displays limited to 40 per day to ensure the recipes will be displayed for a decent amount of time.  Looking through the various recipes, you'll see submissions by blogs from all over the world - fantastic!  Lots of variety too - if you like vegan, raw, gluten-free, whatever, you can probably find it here.  If you like to cook, bake, or make a mess in the kitchen while pretending to be a "cook" or "baker" (that's my forte), check out this website.  It's a great way to find new recipes & stumble upon recipe blogs that you may find becoming a personal favorite.

It's the site that brought me to a recipe for the breakfast pastry I'm shown making in the top two pictures.

Mmm, shower water...

This is a common sight in the bathroom when someone is taking a shower.  Brewer has a deep fascination with showers (well, just about anything), and most especially, shower water.  Odd, yes.  If you happen to get near him while you're showering, he immediately tries to lick the shower water off your leg - even if it's soapy water.  We can't figure it out; my only guess is he likes the warm water.  Needless to say, it's guaranteed if you're in the shower & the bathroom door is cracked slightly, you'll turn around to see a big brown head staring up at you in fascination.

Homemade Root Beer. Yum yum yum.

Along with plenty of homebrew beer, we're planning to have a non-alcoholic homebrew of sorts at the wedding: root beer!  We'd like to make sure to have a non-alcoholic drink for any of the kiddos, or those of us still kids at heart.  As what we've done recently with everything we're doing "DIY style," we decided to do a practice run of the root beer.  SUPER EASY.  Root beer does not have to ferment, so it was basically the process of mixing all ingredients in keg, connecting the CO2, allow to pressurize, & enjoy.

We decided to go with force carbonation (once liquid mixture is in the keg, using a CO2 tank hooked to the keg & force the CO2 into the liquid - wala! carbonation) - the other option is to carbonate using champagne yeast, which runs very two important risks: a slight amount of alcohol present in the liquid (um, this defeats our purpose for having root beer) & creating too much pressure in the bottles, leading to sticky messy exploding bottles.  No thanks.  We're planning to bottle the root beer for the wedding, so to ease the process of bottling already carbonated root beer from a keg (picture lots of foam spilling all over the place), Steve bought a handy dandy little object that we hook up to the keg which allows one to bottle the carbonated liquid without all the foam.  I don't know what the object looks like, the name of it, or how it works, but when we get to that process, I'll post pictures.  All I know is it allows you to bottle the bubbly stuff without filling the bottle entirely with foam.  Pretty cool.

Of course, after our trial run root beer was kegged, we decided to make root beer floats for dessert.  Oh my, so delicious.  The root beer is not the sugary sweet, watery stuff you get at the store.  It's sweet with a nice hint of spiciness & a yummy, creamy texture.  Real root beer.  :)

I'm edumacated!

"Well gee, that there is a mighty fine looking piece of paper ya got yourself sitting there on that there table over yonder."

"Thank you kindly.  I now join the ranks of only 9.4% of the United States population 25 years & older that hold a graduate degree.  My brain is full of worldy knowledge & I now face a boat load of debt.  And I'm unemployed."

"But that there is one mighty fine looking piece of paper."

"Yes, yes it is."

"I especially like the gold filigree."

*Sigh*