The Little Things – Week 2: The Food Network

Not much explanation needed for this one. Honestly, I could have The Food Network on 24-7 and quite possibly never get sick of it. I am sure you all know of my love for cooking and good food and being a newly domesticated housewife, my five favorite, impressive recipes that I have mastered were only going to cut it for so long. I needed help. Ideas, tricks and most importantly tips on how to be able to improvise with flavors and ingredients on my own. Needless to say, Giada has become my new best friend, Paula Dean is raising my cholesterol daily, Rachael challenges me to prepare a ‘30 minute meal’ in 30 actual minutes and Sandra Lee continues to inspire me with ‘tablescapes’ I will never execute on (let’s be honest here). If you are familiar with The Food Network then you know exactly what I am talking about…if not, check it out but don’t say I didn’t warn you about it’s addictive nature!
Happy Cooking!

Guinness St. James Yeaman

Also known as Guinn, Guinnie, Guinnie the Poo, Guinnie Poo the Cutie Pie, Poo Pie, Poo to the Pie…(I know we get creative down here in SD).

Guinnie was born on September 15th, 2007 and joined the Yeaman clan on November 21st as an early Christmas present from Lance to me! At first we were both a bit cautious about embarking upon this 15 + year responsibility, going down the list of all the ways this could inhibit our current newly married, carefree lifestyle. But the minute we laid eyes on little Guinness, our minds we made up. Lance had picked out the perfect little pup. We were in love. The little doe-eyed, pint sized pup had stolen our hearts and we knew he was ours. Originally, we went in to the breeder completely having a name in mind for our new addition (which I will keep to myself in case we use it for future additions) but after laying eyes on our boy with his deep black little body and white capped paws and tail…the name immediately came to Lance. His little pup of choice perfectly mirrored his beverage of choice. After a day or so of consideration, my apprehension to naming our first dog together after an alcoholic beverage began to dwindle. We knew that we wanted his middle name to be “St. James” after the cathedral we married in and after one quick Google search on the history of the beer and the site name of it's first brewery, the deal was sealed, apprehension gone. Guinness was his name (oh).

The Little Things - Week 1: The Swiffer Sweeper

Ok, so yes I have been told by many (many times over) that I must have been sleepin' on the Swiffer Sweeper because it has been around for FOREVER and they just can't believe that I have never used it and am just now finding it...blah blah blah. Yes, I am just now finding it, but I believe that is part of the joy I now find in the Swiffer Sweeper. The true comfort that I find in this beautifully simple piece of machinery is directly related to my utter hatred for your common broom and dustpan or germ infested mop. Hatred, yes that is a strong term. Maybe frustration is more accurate (and less harsh); let's go with frustration. If you have come into contact with me, you are probably familiar with my highly detailed, borderline anal..let's just call it what it is...perfectionistic side that rears its ugly head from time to time. I would actually experience internal angst knowing what my broom was leaving behind and I probably shouldn't get started on the huge production that used to be mopping. Now (all thanks to the Swiffer Sweeper) I can bid adieu to that which has been the source of so many sleepless nights and channel that energy to things more productive...like how to remove all the dust from each indiividual blind in under 4 hours...

It's "The Little Things" that count!

Each week (or so I will try), I want to write a small post about little things that either make my life a little easier or that I just plain love. It can be about anything and I would love it if people would comment back things that they love as well! I will keep a running list on the right side of my blog...my 'Little Things' list. It's just things that make me smile or get me little girl giddy inside. Little things that completely make my day (and sometimes week) because after all, it's the little things in life that truly count! :)

Allow us to introduce ourselves...

So, I have been debating for quite some time now whether I should actually start up a blog or not. I mean in the age of Myspace, Facebook, LinkedIn and the endless other social networking sites available, why would I need to start up a blog? I don't have any cute baby pictures or videos to show off or any real significant updates to give but none the less, here I am on a random Thursday night creating a blog during 'Lost' commercial breaks. Call it my endless need to multi-task.

A little bit about us (but if you are actually reading this, I doubt it's new information):

Lance and I married on September 28th, 2007 (ah, yes newlyweds :) in Florence, Italy...the most romantic city I have thus encountered. For Christmas, Lance surprised me with the latest addition to our young family; the sweetest little beagle puppy you will ever meet (more to come about him in the near future...probably more than you would ever want to come - but I digress). The three of us are living in beautiful San Diego and feel extremely blessed and thankful for our wonderful lives together. Other than the Cowboys not making it to the superbowl, we couldn't ask for anything more.