THE BIG MOVE

We made it finally.


Welcome to Florida the current temperature is 101 degrees!
Everyone made the trip fine, then we left the avocado plant in the car while we went to the closing, and needless to say, I will have to plant some new seeds. They are on life support now, we shall see if they can pull through, I don't have much hope for them.

We are still without furniture which has proved to be a little more than inconvenient. We have no chairs, so we have been standing for about 4 days, and my feet are tired.
We have been doing things around the yard, and of course have been in the pool everyday twice a day!

Last night we made our first trip to the beach for sunset. The drive took 15 minutes, and the sunset was great.

Schools Out for Summer

School is out for summer break, and the count down to our move to Florida continues. The official count is 10 days. The list of things to do is growing faster than I care to think about. The movers are scheduled, the truck is coming, and we are going to be gone in a blink of an eye. In the meantime, I have 7 guests arriving for M's graduation. The culmination of 10 long years of hard work. They will be helpful in the planning of our party that is going to be on Saturday. The guest list surged to 80, and we have 50 responses in the positive so far.
We will be making the food, with the exceptions of a few neighbors that are bring over some goodies to eat.
The menu so far is looking good. I have narrowed it down to the following.

Caprese skewers (mini moz ball, cherry tomato, basil leaf with a balsamic vinaigrette)
hummus with pita
salmon mousse on crackers
Fruit Plate
Chocolate fountain
Cheese Plate (or Brie Carmel Nuts Bake and serve with)
grown-up ham and cheese sandwiches
grilled shrimp with spicy tamarind dip
Cake
The grocery list is made, and now we just have to go to the store and make all the appetizers, then party down!
I hope that we can pull it off. I will have my camera and be clicking away. Our last party in Hamilton Wood.

Can you hear the drumroll?

The moment we have all been waiting for. The satisfying moment when one of the readers wins their prize! As luck would have it Random.org had this to say today.

This is what the winner had to say during the contest.
Dr. Bec said...
My favorite is the red and white grocery bag--the fabric is just beautiful!

May 27, 2009 10:42 PM

Congrats to Dr. Bec, I will swing by your blog and leave you a comment on your winning status!
Thanks to all for playing along, I hope you visit often!

THE CONTEST IS OVER!

The winner will be announced shortly.
Stay tuned for details.

Good Luck to everyone, and thanks for stopping by.

Giveaway

Thanks to Sew, Mama, Sew! for organizing the giveaway day. If you are looking for my giveaway click here.
Click on the MAY GIVEAWAY DAY ad to go back and check out all the other giveaways. There are so many, and they all look great!

Delicious Dessert

Last night we decided to make a great dessert from our Bon Appetit magazine. Each month I get the magazine delivered, and each month we make a few recipes from it. I figure, I have the subscription, I might as well try as many new recipes as possible. We made the blueberry shortcakes with lemon thyme biscuits. They were so good, and perfect for warm weather, since you can serve them with ice cream.
The preparation was super easy, and quick too. The blueberry mix could have been made a few days before, but since we were not pressed for time we made it all at once. I also cut the recipe in half since it was just two of us eating, and it worked out fine.
We sat on the front porch, and enjoyed our delicious dessert.

Weekend Weather

I thought we were expecting rain this weekend, however, as a nice surprise we had sunshine, and plenty of it. We drove down to the city for lunch today. Lunch was a short walk to Panozzo's Deli, a great italian deli with sandwiches and a small store. I got some great pasta while we waited for our food. We were going to go to the Randolph Street Market, but M was on call, and we had to come home after lunch. Since our plans in the city were cut short, I was able to spend some time out in the yard. I sat outback watching the creek, and the birds. The blue jays were jumping on the feeder knocking all the food to the ground. They are messy eaters, but the chipmunks are right there to clean up the mess. It is very nice to be able to sit out in the warm air, and enjoy the wildlife. What a great weekend. And there is still one more day, don't you love 3 day weekends!

The Great Outdoors

Not too long ago there was a chance that we were going to be moving to Alaska. It was a one in 7 chance. Now, we know that we are not going there to live, but we will go for a visit. Whenever we would talk about our chances of moving to Alaska, ninety percent of the people we ran across had either lived there at one time wishing to return, or were very interested in visiting Alaska. Of course, there was the minority who said "Yikes, Alaska?".
We have a few friends that have been to Alaska and visited Denali Park. They said it was just amazing. I can just imagine the wildlife that is there in the park. Travel Alaska and you will be amazed at the wonderful wildlife, everything from bears to mountain goats. I would love to go in the summer months to get full 19 hours of sunlight a day. Can you imagine having that much daylight, the flip-side in the winter is not so nice, very short days.
Alaska travel can be for anyone, you could take a cruise to get there and have all the amenities included, get on the Alaska railroad, or you could go out on your own, and really get to see the great outdoors. I think that is the way we would like to see Alaska. Hiking in Denali Park or a tour of Kenai Fjords National Park. There is so much to see that you might have to make several trips, if you are not lucky enough to live in Alaska.

Lights, Camera, Action

Researching cameras is something I love to do. I love to read all the latest reviews on both D-SLRS and the every so easy to use pocket sized digital cameras. I spent hours looking at all the D-SLRs when I made my purchase. It is a big decision, and mine weighed heavily on the fact that I had many lens to fit the Sony Digital Camera. I ended up purchasing the Alpha A-100 which I really like. It has been so easy to use, and the photos that I print are fantastic quality. I use the Sony when I am on a photo shoot, whether it is birds in my backyard, or if I am on a hike it is light enough with my 28-300mm lens to carry around all day.

When I am on the go around town I always have handy my Canon Digital Camera, which is the powershot sd500. This can always be found in my bag or in my pocket. This 7.1 mp camera has great quality pictures, and the color is true to the scene.
If you are interesting buying a camera whether it is Nikon Digital Camera or one of my favorites mentioned above, it is a good idea to read all the reviews you can. There are many reasons to buy a digital camera, in order to find the one that best fits your needs you can search by size, megapixel, and what you will be using for. Whatever you choose, make sure you read the manual so that you will get the most out of your new investment.

Happy shooting.

A new home for Avocados

I am not the only one that is excited about moving to Florida. I have a single indoor planter that plays host to 4 avocado saplings. These growing trees need more room, and of course would like to be outside for more than 4 months out of the year.

The four little seeds were headed for the trash can when I thought I can plant these. Planting avocados is so easy. I just cleaned the seed and popped it into the dirt. Since we live in Chicago, and the winters are brutal, I realized that my garden planters needed to come inside. So for over 6 months my indoor planter sat in the window that got the most sun. The hours of sunshine are greatly diminished in the winter months. These avocado seeds are fighters. With only two hours of sun a day, they started to grow, and the leaves increased in size and now I think they will make the move seamlessly to Florida. However, I will need to get four outdoor planters where they can continue to grow into large trees. Their new home will be in some decorative planters at the four corners of our swimming pool. I think there they will thrive in the sun from morning till night.
I have been transitioning the plants to the outdoors. I take the planter outside every morning and bring it back to the safety of the house each evening. I can certainly see they difference of getting a little more sun each day. The pot they are in now is not so pretty, so I will make sure their new pots will be high end planters that will last a lifetime!