My 26th Birthday
For my birthday I asked Jeff to make me a pizza party! We’ve never made our own pizza before – well at least I haven’t – and i know Jeff used to work at a pizza place back in Crested Butte, CO, so i thought it would be perfect.
I went to the store and bought the yeast, and Jeff started work on the dough. We also roasted some garlic to put on top the pizza.
After the dough rises for a couple of hours, Jeff said you have to punch it to let all the air out. Then it deflates. We broke it out into four loaves so everyone could make their own pizza.
Here is all the toppings – turkey pepperoni, green onions, tomatoes, artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, zucchini, and pineapple. We invited Roger and Carrie to join us for the party.
Here is my yummy pizza! On the right is half-Roger half-Carrie’s pizza.
Carrie brought over a wonderful homemade Brownie Raspberry Sorbet Cake! She also bought me a spring-form pan that i mentioned earlier i needed to purchase. Woo hoo, now i can make cheesecakes and all kinds of other baked goodies. =)
Everything turned out so delicious and fun. Even though i was totally sick with a cold, i had a great 26th birthday – i couldn’t håve asked for more!
Relay for Life, Year 2!
Pinnacle Bank participated in Gilroy’s Relay for Life again this year. Jeff and I did a better job of raising money compared to last year — we raised $265.23. As a team, Pinnacle Bank raised $9,287.18.
We had planned to do luminaries again this year – Jeff bought 2 bags and brought them home for me to decorate — but I had no time!! We went to the Relay on today from 1-2pm and walked the track about 12 laps within that time. Not sure how long 1 lap is but we estimated its about the same as a regular lap around a normal track. While walking around I noticed a very familiar looking luminary. MY BAG FROM LAST YEAR! Haha. I decorated one in honor of my mom at last year’s event, and I guess they must save them and/or it never got out to be lit. I looked inside the bag, and the candle had been lit from last night’s luminary ceremony. So even though we didn’t get to do new ones this year, we still represented.
Office Birthdayness
My office-mates go all out on birthdays. Lookit! Rita drew my very own custom avatar! And i was bombarded with gifts galore. We all went out to Ninja Sushi for lunch. I had a Rainbow Roll, and since i wore the Schipper Birthday Girl Crown they gave me free ice cream. Though it didn’t taste so great – i think it was tamarind flavor. Angie baked some cupcakes for us to eat, though i was too full to eat them so I had to take mine home. Look at the cute little toothpick characters adorning them. Soooo cute! \ \ ( ^_^ ) / /
Banana Cookies
I had three ripe bananas going to waste on my counter so i thought i’d look up a recipe to use them up. Well, i didn’t want to make Banana Bread so I came across this interesting recipe for a Banana Cookie. It turned out like a chewy granola bar, so it was soft and not very "cookie" like but still a good healthy snack. You can throw in whatever you want! I didn’t have any walnuts but I highly recommend throwing some kind of nut in there for a crunch and texture, otherwise its all soft. Here is more or less what i made it with…
BANANA COOKIES
* 3 ripe bananas, mashed
* 2 1/2 cups rolled oats
* 1 cup mixture of raisins, craisins (or other dried fruit)
* 1/4 cup chocolate chips
* 1 apple, diced
* 1/4 cup walnuts, chopped (or other nut)
* 1/4 cup of peanut butter
* 1/4 cup of sugar (or honey)
* 1 T wheat germ
* 1/4 c apple sauce
* 1 T vegetable oil
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* Cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves – to taste
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, mash the bananas. Stir in rest of ingredients. Mix well, and allow to sit for 15 minutes. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
3. Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly brown.
Dead Birdie
Who knows how this bird died. I walk by it every morning since it lays in our office parking lot. Did it get run over by a car? Or was it already dead before it got flattened? Guess we’ll just never know.
Our Candy Jar
Here’s a look at our pathetic excuse for a candy jar. Since it sits on our coffee table it often gets random objects in here such as taco sauce or a blinky ring.
First Class at Fitness Unlimited
Tonight I taught my first official Turbo Kick Boxing class! I now have a regular weekly class on Monday nights, 6:30pm at Fitness Unlimited in Salinas. There were about 5 people that showed up to class, which i hear is about average. I think I did a pretty good job. This week i have to sub for Sandy’s step class Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday! And i’m also subbing TKB on Thursday and Friday. So wow, that’s a lot of classes for a newbie to teach. And not to mention, i am recovering from a cold! Hope I do well…
Condor Peaks Trail
On our last day camping we decided to do one more hike – the Condor Peaks Hike. It’s a moderate hike that is incline up all the way! I had fun hoofing it up there but Jeff had not as much fun. 😉 We made it to the top in one piece though, and enjoyed the views. A nice couple that were there ahead of us were kind enough to snap a photo of us.
On the way up we stopped to take a breather and snap some cool photos by this huge rock!
Jeff and I both love the way this photo turned out of the plane trails. After our hike we stopped by another picnic site and had sandwiches again. Then we drove home – about an 1 1/2 drive.
Cool Rocks, Yeah!
The main draw to Pinnacles is the cool rock formations and caves. This was once the site of an old volcano. May-July is when the bats that live in the caves “hibernate” so all but 1 of the caves were closed. We went on a hike that was supposed to lead us to a reservoir but we somehow got lost halfway through and made a loop back to the start of the hike before we saw any sort of body of water. Must have been distracted by the rock climbers along the way.
We did get to pass through a mini-cave tunnel. That was exciting.
Earlier in the day i had packed some lunch, so after our hike we stopped at some picnic tables and enjoyed our turkey and cheddar sandwiches.
There was a big log that had fallen across a dry stream bed that i wanted to take a self-portrait on, but i couldn’t figure out the self-timer on my camera and also the logistics of running from the camera to the log without hurting myself. So there’s just a photo of me! On our way back to the campsite i took a photo of the sign for Pinnacles Campground.
Back at our campsite we lounged around – read some magazines and books, snacked, and took a long nap. I hung out mostly in the tent even though it was really hot in there.
For dinner we planned on making some vegetable pasta with sausages and marinara sauce. Since we had snacked on Cheez-Its we were not starving so decided on just the sausages, some veggies, and garlic bread with dipping sauce!
Jeff was sad in this picture because our garlic bread wasn’t heating up fast enough and all the rest of our food was getting cold waiting!
SMORE TIME! S’more, smores yep yep! So yummy. Though we had kept the chocolate in the cooler during the day since we were afraid it would melt, and that proved to be a little too cold of a temperature for the roasted marshmallow to melt properly. We still managed to scarf down two smores each though.
Our campfire had a nice grill rack over it, perfect for keeping our smores nice and toasty.
Camping at the Pinnacles
This year we planned ahead and booked a campsite early so we could have a reserved spot for the summer. We decided to stay at Pinnacles Campground after Carrie and Roger suggested it to us. Renee and Wayne had bought us a tent for our wedding anniversary, and this was our first time using it. Jeff pretty much set up the tent all on his own. I did most all the packing of the stuff before hand – food, equipment, supplies, entertainment, etc. While unloading the care we saw a big beetle scurrying away.
We got to the campsite pretty late – around 7:30pm i believe. We barely had enough daylight to set up camp and cook dinner. Our plans were to have hot dogs and beans.
Of course, there is no camping without smores! While we were sitting by the fire, a racoon came up to our picnic table to see if it could snatch any food but we didn’t have any. Jeff got up to shoo it away but he just stood there until he told it the scram. Even though they are “pests” i wished i could have gotten a picture of him.