Claudine, Oui c'est Francais

TA-DA......

Here it is... it was tough to start but the Circle Journal is now done, at least my part and is soon to travel down the road (literally) to Michelle... So without further adieu....

Inside front cover:

Sign in page is really tags, one for each person. You can leave them where they are, or take one out and put it in between your pages. I did the first one...

Page 2

my pages: Separately scanned

And now for the interactiveness of it, and I like it so much I may need to take the picture idea and make some presents out of it. Don't look mom...Careful there is some nudity, so not for younger viewers...

 

Circle Journal v.2 sneak peek & super yummy salad

First of all.... I have been pretty bad about getting my Circle Journal done... good thing it is only going 2 miles away but still I seriously need to get cracken. Here is a sneak peak. I am loving my metal letters with the rub ons on it

so now for the salad that I highly recommend making this weekend. There is  restaurant in town that makes a great salad that is spicy halibut on a bed of spinach with avocados and creamy dressing. I love it so much I wanted to come up with something like it...

This is pretty close

For the Halibut or Cod

1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. minced fresh thyme
1/2 tsp. each: dried oregano, Cayenne pepper, sweet paprika, ground cumin,  ground pepper and Fennel seeds, crushed
4 6-oz halibut  or cod fillets
2 Tbsp. olive oil
4 tsp. butter

Preheat oven to 400º

Mix first 7 ingredients in small bowl

Place fillets on baking sheet. Brush on both sides with 1 tbsp oil. Sprinkle top of each with seasoning.

Heat heavy large skillet (preferably cast-iron) over high heat until very hot. Add remaining 1 tbsp oil; swirl to coat. Place fillets, seasoned side down, in skillet. Cook until very brown on bottom, 1 minute.

Return fillets, browned side up, to baking sheet. Place in oven; Bake until just opaque in center, about 8 minutes.

CREAMY YOGURT DRESSING

Juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 to 2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1 cup plain yogurt (as pure as possible, without stabilizers, pectin, etc.)

For the dressing, combine the lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic in a blender and puree until smooth. Add the yogurt and blend briefly to combine.

To serve, pour the yogurt dressing over the salad and toss to coat evenly. Divide and place on 6 serving plates. Top each with a large spoonful of the red pepper garnish.

For the rest of the salad:

5 or 6 cooked pieces of bacon cut up in 1/2 inch pieces, 1 or 2 avocados sliced

To plate, toss cleaned raw spinach with bacon and dressing.  Plate and then top with sliced avocado and then fish.

I cut the halibut in smaller pieces so their was more spice and I really jacked up the Cayenne pepper. A little to hot for John but I loved it..... The combination of the spicey fish and the cool avocado and the dressing is so good!
make it this weekend and let me know what you think....

Me and my friend

Yup, that's right. It's me with my friend Kenny....Ok maybe it was 60 seconds with my friend Kenny and I can't really use the term "friend" since I really don't think this moment was as big of a impact on him as it was on me....

I have been meaning to scan this since last June, this is what happens when I procrastinate from working on the circle journal..... Ok back to work

Circle Journal

I haven't been able to do any scrapbooking since mid November so I am pretty excited to start on the circle journal. I have my theme "back where I come from" inspired by one of my favorite Kenny Chesney songs. And I have my journal. just like my last one but in black. I haven't been inspired to start it yet, but I better get a move on.

Maybe the fact that the Kenny concert is on CMT right now will get be motivated, or it may just do the opposite and I will sit and stare at him..... 

There's the journal in it's original state..... hopefully soon it will no longer be naked...

But in the mean time I did this layout. It is a little plane for me, I normally love to load it up with lots of things especially sparkly things. But these pics didn't really call for it.

Now back to watching Kenny, and making the famous Martha Mac & Cheese...

12 on 12

Andrea did this last month and it looked like so much fun I had to play this month. It is the idea of Chad Darnell and it involves taking 12 pictures during the day on the 12th of each month.

6:58am, woke up a little late (a whole hour) because I decided to work from home today, Take a look out the window to check to see if there was any ice or snow.

 

8:00am, sun is coming up and shining onto the trees and the sky has a thin line of pink.... you would never know that it is colder than a witches tit out there...

8:15am good morning preciuse, time for a little bath in the sun

9:10am a stop at one of my favorite places in the world, although I can't stand this location, it is the closest to the house and they have my Reduced fat Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake.

9:30am On the way back home, It is so clear and sunny.... but as I said looks can be decieving

9:45 am. at work in my little office/craft room. My esentials all around me, Venti Pumpkin Spice Latte, cell phone, Advil contaier and laptop. And in a little over a hour Martha's is on and I think I may need to rent Devil Wears Prada on On Demand, The perks of working at home every know and then

11:30 Brace yourself for this one. John in in underwear.....I really am sorry to do this to you all. He made me put it in here.

1:30 time for lunch. After watching the Devil I was craving a Grilled Cheese and paired it with one of my new found favorites, Jones Cream Soda

2:30pm On the way to find the post office, a pretty clear day to see Mt Hood

2:45 finally found the post office, who puts a post office in a strip mall?

5:10pm, after a stop at the grocery store I noticed my back driverside tire was a little low, so a trip to the Chevron for a little air......

5:45pm time for dinner, Chicken and Basil stir fry with onions and red & green peppers. Love the colors!

Bonus picture, something new:

I moved some things around in the CCC and purchased some new shelves and drawers to clean things up a bit. Have to love Target when there is a sale....

good news

This is my mom, she won't be to happy to have this picture on the world wide web, but oh well. At least I didn't take it when she was dopped up....

She had surgery on Friday the 29th because they found a lump on her right Thyroid. They opened her neck up and tested the lump and the preliminary find, was NOT cancer. If it had been they would have to take her whole Thyroid out, but instead they only took the right out. We had to wait a entire week for the final diagnoses to come through that it was Benign! Such good news! I was the only one with mom when we went to the hospital, we waited bout 4 hours before she went into surgery, I got to meet her super cute Dr McDreamy. All the nurses have a crush on him, and I can see why. I should have taken a picture of him. Mom had to fill all sorts of paper work out, like when to pull the plug if something was to happen. She made me in charge of that, since I was the rational one. (her words, not mine) But I am not sure what I would do, I still cry about my Grandpa who died in 1994 like it was yesterday. I was fine about the whole thing until grandma called all worked up the day before. She said "she is my first born, what if something happens"  Then I was getting nervous, it was hard to see her wheeled away into surgery, after all it is my mom and I don't really like to think of anybody I love in that situation. But everything worked out the best we could have wanted, so that I am thankful for!