Chowder Day 2012

In a much welcomed twist in life, I was blessed with the opportunity to have Saturdays off during February. This couldn't have come at a better time because it allowed me to do some really great things that I would have otherwise missed out on. What are these things you ask? Well for starters, Bodega Bay's Annual Chowder Day!

It all started rather innocently. I was sitting in the break room at work casually looking through the Press Democrat (Sonoma County's local newspaper) when all of the sudden the word CHOWDER jumped off the page. I read the short article talking about the upcoming annual event held in beautiful Bodega Bay, realized I had the day off and immediately sent a text to Dan letting him know that he was to not make any plans for February 11th. If you know Dan then you know that he absolutely L-O-V-E-S clam chowder. It seemed pretty obvious that to be able to taste and judge 15 different recipes of this fave dish would be right up his alley.

I tried to keep the details of what we were doing to myself so that he could put the pieces together himself but I was so stinking excited that I spilled all the dirty details two days before. May I just say that his reaction was better than I could have ever imagined and will forever be a favorite memory for me. I wish I had a recorded it! Needless to say he was absolutely stoked about this pending venture. Almost immediately he started looking up information about when, where, and who would be at Chowder Day. This posed a small problem only because we were in bed and now he was wide awake. Silly me.

February 11th came and he was wide awake and ready to go before schedule. In fact, he wanted to leave extra early so that he could ensure they wouldn't sell out of tickets. The whole trip there all I heard was "drive faster, drive faster!" I hardly parked before Dan jumped out of the car and got in line. Thankfully there were plenty of tickets still available. With our spoons and ballots in hand we embarked on Chowder Day 2012. We came. We saw. We conquered. Then we went home.

Dan and I at the beginning of the day...still naive and hungry. That's about to change soon! 

Each place gives you 2 oz to sample their creation. It doesn't seem like a lot but its actually 3-4 spoonfuls. And remember, there are 15 stops. That's a whole lotta chowder!

Our completed ballots. Daniel was very thorough and methodical. He took notes on his phone then referenced them after tasting to complete his ballot. 

My mom was in town that weekend so she got to taste with us! 

It was a great day and a very fun event. We have zero plans of having chowder any time soon but it was so worth it! 

sushi.

Dan and I love to go out to sushi. However, with great sushi comes great (big!) bill. In effort to still enjoy the greatness that is rice and wasabi yet keep a roof over our head, we recently decided to learn how to make our own sushi at home. Ooooooooooooh, what an adventure!!

Shrimp. Essential for great sushi.

Wasabi. The hotter, the better.

Dan had a very handy, dandy sushi making tool. Note the wooden pieces on top of the saucepan on the counter.  

He crafted some fine looking rolls.

I was so excited for the finished product that I failed to exercise the required patience to use Dan's handy dandy sushi tool. I decided to lay down a layer of rice on some Saran Wrap , place my shrimp and avocado on top and then roll it up. 

It was a great idea...in theory. 

our first family tradition?

Originally meant for posting 5/31/11...


Hallelujah. Thats all I can say. Its been six long months and dan and I are officially all unpacked. It has been a long and exhausting task but OHHHHHH does it feel great to be done! All of our things have a "home", all of our boxes are gone and best of all, our pictures are hung. Not many things in the world feel better than this.

Throughout the grueling task that has been making this place a home, we have established our first family tradition! We are both quite excited about this. I love tradition. love, love, love. I also love finding any and all opportunities to create new traditions and this was our first. Rather, it was our first tradition created together....as a married couple. We both have traditions that we have brought to our new family from our extended families (my personal favorite being adding a new christmas ornament to the collection every year).

Anyway, back on topic. Right after we got married we were grocery shopping when we saw one lone bottle of sparkling grape juice sitting on the shelf. We couldn't let that poor thing live the rest of its life by itself so being the selfless selves that we are, we adopted that sucker...or in other words, we purchased that bottle right up! The only catch before we could pop it open and indulge in its greatness? House had to be a home. Everything unpacked, put away and hung.

Our celebratory treat after a long night of picture hanging

The evening's entertainment

It took many afternoons and late nights but it has happened and we have happily indulged in the bubbles and all of its goodness. Furthermore, we have decided that whenever we move into a new place we will buy a bottle of sparkling grape juice as soon as possible and chill it in the fridge until we are completely unpacked (and everything is hung) at which point we will pop it open and indulge again. ;)

Summer is here...

and I'm ready for it to end already. While hundreds of people would tell me all day long that they were so tired of the cool weather and rain, I just quietly shrugged and thought to myself about how much I loved it. Sure, it makes walking to work a pain but it also smells so darn good. Wait. Stop. Freeze. (That was for you, Daniel) I must correct myself. Post-rain NATURE smells great...post-rain homeless people, not so much.

I am not here to gripe about the heat and how much I hate it. Nor am I here to forewarn my poor, unsuspecting husband that he will not get near as many hugs or hold as many hands in these crispy months. So please allow me to move on.

We are slowly transitioning into our new ward. It has taken five months but we both have callings. Dan will be working with the Young Men as YM Secretary and Asst. Scout Master. He is pretty stoked about this. Man, oh, man you should have heard him talking about all the cool camping things we "needed" to buy because he "had" to have them for his new responsibilities. How on earth anyone ever survived without a pole-thinga-magig that hooks onto the propane tank and then the camp stove I'll never know! I love to watch his excitement though, it's much like a young child on christmas morning. :D

I will be working with primary, YAY! Starting next week I'll be teaching the 4-5 year old children in Jr. Primary. I am excited and scared all at the same time. This will not be my first experience teaching primary...however, last time was with 10-11 year old boys (all of which I babysat some years prior) and I was able to be a little more "casual" with them. Nevertheless, I know that my wonderful husband will support me in this new endeavor.

We are both still working like crazy. Dan is preparing his med school apps (frequent phone calls full of encouragement & love are requested and appreciated) and I am still working towards my teaching credential. In fact, I have a test on Monday that I should probably be studying for...

So there you are folks. Its not much but its something. More current events from this Athey household to come soon. Toodles!

blessed.

It is Wednesday, and it is my day off. This is my official "i am going to be focused and do TONS of homework" day but life never seems to work like that. Whether it is by choice, I cannot divulge.

Today I made lunch and took it to my wonderful husband at work. It was fun. On the menu: tuna salad (yum!) on lightly toasted rye bread (yuck!) with fresh cantaloupe, some scrumptious cheddar cheese, and a few cheetos. I realized after everything was pack that it was all orange with the exception of the sandwich itself. Quickly, I tried to come up with an orange alternative but happily settled with what was already made.

Our visit was nice. The picnic table was already occupied so we drove down the block and found a big shade tree to sit under. We talked and laughed through his much-too-short lunch break. All I could think about was how lucky I was to be sharing my life with this guy. Sure, he has his faults but I have mine to balance those out. Besides, I don't think I could handle being married to someone who didn't make me nuts every now and again. ;)

As I dropped him off, he told me to listen to a song because it was about me. All I could do was smile. Not because I didn't have anything to say. Rather, because I didn't know how to say everything I was feeling. Given the lyrics, this was just one more demonstration of how much he loves me.

On my way home I listened to the sweet words and fought back tears. In that moment (and this moment now), my heart was so full. So full of love and thanks. Thanks that I have the opportunity to live my life with this nutty, nutty goon. Thanks that we get to raise a family together. Thanks that he loves me and supports my dreams. Thanks that he encourages me to be the very best I can be every single day. Thanks that he tells me "how it is" despite the (not so scary) glares I may or may not offer.

I went on to think about how this summer will mark four years since I moved away from home and started this life in Sonoma County. I remembered thinking knowing that I would get married during this move. I also remembered a whole slough of feelings I experienced between now and then: fear, excitement, relief, frustration, even pure joy. Fear of the unknown. Excited of the possibilities. Frustration that things weren't happening the way I'd like or at the rate I'd prefer. Pure joy that my dreams were becoming reality.

I cannot promise to be perfect, to never upset him or to always keep the kitchen clean. However, I can promise that I will always love him, that I will always scratch his back, be his ally and friend, put band-aids on his boo-boo's and be the very best mother to his children that I can be.

all tuckered out.

it has been a long day, and even longer week. the unfortunate thing is that it's only tuesday. eek.

two peas in a pod.

it is official. dan and i are hooked...to each other! as a sign of our commitment we have taken the big leap and changed my personal blog (albeit, tiny personal blog) and made it our official "we are married and cool so we are gonna have a blog" blog. it is our goal (ok, my goal) to post something twice a month but we will definitely need encouragement. ha ha ha.

let us start by introducing our married selves.

dan: tall, dark, and handsome. rather, taller than me, darker than me, and definitely handsomer than me. he's an uber nerd and i love him for it. he loves animals and would have one of everything if i let him. smart and witty, he teaches me something new every day. he plays with his ears when he's thinking, tired, bored or just plum breathing. he has a beard that puts other beards to shame. kind and compassionate, he is possibly one of the most caring people i know. he's got a soft side that he hates to show and if it were up to him, the whole world would think he were invincible. he loves his nephews and talks about them constantly. he is a complex individual yet so simple at the same time. he makes me laugh harder than i've ever laughed before and smile bigger than i ever thought possible. he sees straight through me without effort and possibly knows me better than i know myself. he is my best friend and i love him. -jackie

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Jackie is, well, Jackie. If you know her you know that she is beyond adorable, and has a great sense of humor. I think her realism and lame jokes are what first drew me to her. She was a real person with me, never faking it, never pretending, never just telling me what I wanted to hear. If only that would've continued... ;) But really, I couldn't ask for someone that is more perfect for me. She doesn't always realize it, but she is AMAZING! She loves me just the way I am, but still manages to encourage me to be better. I find myself wanting to be better just so I can keep up with her.

And then there's her patience. ...yeah. If you know our story you know, as the scriptures would put it, how long-suffering she is. Honestly, I don't know if there is a better term for it than that. The hell I put this girl through! My goodness. I am just glad that she waited and that she said yes when I finally put myself together. I can't wait for the next ETERNITY! YEAH!! Oh, and don't count on me posting on here all that often - most of the updates will be from her. I'll be busy playing Assassin's Creed ;) -Dan