Monthly Archives: November 2010
Consolidating the Madness
I have been slowly building a pile of odds and ends for the Goodwill store this last week. Nate and I have to temporarily move out of our bedroom and master bath in a few short days. Everything is being relocated into my office and the linen closet.
I am bound and determined to get rid of items as I go. So far, I have emptied out the bathroom and my closet. Now I am working on moving the rest of the bedroom. I have also gone through my office to make room.
Sometimes, I am amazed at the amount of crap I have. We only moved into this place a year ago and I feel I have begun to really fill it with endless amounts of clutter. It’s disheartening. I don’t want to be labeled a pack rat, but I definitely have the tendency to store. This cleaning exercise is tedious but well worth it. I should only keep what I need and cherish, not the rest.
VIP, Baby!
I am still catching up on posts during election season so bare with me.
The Treasure Island Festival this year was a lot of fun although the SF weather turned on us midday. Nate and I almost froze off our bums watching into the late night from the VIP area.
Yes, you read right, we broke down and bought VIP tickets this year. We decided to only go to Saturday’s lineup, so we decided to be as comfortable as possible. We had a great time watching Die Antwoord, LCD Soundsystem, Deadmau5, Miike Snow and many others. It makes me happy that this has become our little tradition. Even in the midst of crazy campaign season we made it out.
King of Fruits? Things I learned about the Avocado Tree.
One of the best surprises about our house was learning that our neighbors have a giant avocado tree that hangs over our property. Like most California natives, I grew up on avocados. I thing they are one of the best fruits full of good fats and nutrients.
Last year was a bummer. The trees didn’t produce very much fruit. Guess the weather wasn’t good for it. It was a major let down, but I hoped the harvest would be better this year.
So you can imagine my excitement now that our tree is now covered with fruit.
So are the squirrels who have been dropping the fruit like mad after eating one bite. (Don’t worry – I try to save as many as I can that they bite into. I just cut that part off the fruit before using.)
I did learn an interesting fact though – avocados do not ripen until they fall or are picked from the tree, so the squirrels are actually doing me a favor by dropping the fruit.
California produces about 90 percent of the nation’s avocado crop, but most are grown in Southern California because avocado trees are very susceptible to severe cold. How this particular tree survives the winter frost is a mystery. From what I can tell, it must be a Mexican variety that has the greatest tolerance to cold.
Speaking of the actual avocados. Our avocados are not your typical Hass variety you find in the grocery store. They have a smooth black skin and are smaller than the Hass avocado with little tiny seeds. The skin is very thin and a little difficult to peel, but I am working on my technique.
At first I was going to try and pick as many as I could at once, but now I am just using what drops which is plenty.
I see a fruitful month ahead of me. 
A single California Avocado tree can produce about 500 avocados (or 200 pounds of fruit) a year so I am just taking it one avocado at a time.
Halloween 2010
Nate gets this look on his face when I start to talk about decorating for the holidays. Its not that he doesn’t like the decoration – he just hates the mess I make putting them up and taking them down. I don’t blame him – my creative process for these kind of projects is not very organized.
Last year I was so overjoyed with the possibilities and I went a little crazy.
… and unfortunately it turned out to look more like a rave party than Halloween.
This year, I decided to keep things simple.
Orange twinkle lights hung above our new picture window with a black and purple pom-pom garland my mother gave me. I set the lights on a timer so that when I got home from work, the lights were already on.
I was at Micheals about a week before Halloween and they already had a bunch of decorations on clearance. I picked up two Martha Stewart window decals. The skeleton one went up into the picture window. I absolutely love it. It looked so cool with the lights at night. I plan on using this next year.
I also put out my crazy cat face I got at Target last year, plus my fake pumpkins I picked up at Michaels. My parents gave me three Cinderella pumpkins from their garden than I plan on roasting, but until then I set them on my porch for decoration.
Inside, I just added little Halloween touches to the current decor.
I poured last year’s candy corn into a square vase and added a tall pillar candle. I also bought a simple and inexpensive berry branch from Michaels that I stuck into a blue vase I thrifted years ago.
Finally, I put out a Slatkin & Co. Leaves Candle. It has a nice aroma apple, cinnamon, mulled cider and berry. Plus it burns forever. I love it.
I am a major candle lover, but I am trying to move to away from cheap candles towards healthier options. The Slatkin ones are a compromise until I find quality soy candles that burn clean.
On Halloween night, we only had ONE trick-or-treater and he was about 17 years old, but I was still glad that my place was decorated. Driving up to the house every night, made me smile and really that’s what it is all about!
