It’s so easy to have a heavy hand when you (when I) first learn a particular photo editing technique in Gimp. (GIMP is a free open source image editing alternate to Photoshop. My husband and I love it) When you learn how to do something, you really want to do it, right?! Well, I learned pretty quickly that with vignetting, subtlety is usually best if you still want to like the picture in a few days, not to mention a few years. Here’s a tutorial (with plenty of examples) on how to add a subtle vignette (darkening around the edges) to a photo. Read the rest of this entry »

I decided to make some flax bread/crackers to take camping at the last minute, so I had to make them from whatever I had in my kitchen (as usual). The difference, though, is that I actually recorded how much of each ingredient I used this time. This recipe requires use of a dehydrator, but you can always improvise with low-temp oven or outside in the hot sun! I don’t really have the authority to call this recipe “Mediterranean Flax Bread” since I’m not from the Mediterranean and neither is the bread. But “So Cal flax bread” doesn’t sound quite as fanciful, and I like my bread to be fanciful. Oh, and some of you may prefer to call them crackers, and that’s alright with me. Read the rest of this entry »

This Labor Day camping trip included more family than ever before. We had all the McGregor siblings, all the Luukkonen siblings, all the Peters siblings, spouses, parents, friends, and kids. Wow. Speaking of kids: eventually, someday, in the future, not right now, later on, I’ll have my own kids to enjoy and laugh at and write about. Until then, I have to settle (settle? I’m not sure it’s settling, really) for enjoying and laughing at and writing about my nephew and niece. Particularly my nephew. Being the only kid in the immediate family who’s old enough to run around and talk, he gets a lot of attention for the funny things he says and does. I figured I’d share some of the funny quotes from the weekend with all the pictures. Oh, and there are LOTS of pictures! Read the rest of this entry »

There is so much information available about the health benefits of flaxseed. It would be impossible to share it all with you, so I’ll just share some of the basics. Read the rest of this entry »

I hope you like animals, because you’ll be seeing a lot of them if you read on. This is part 3 of 3 posts chronicling our birthday weekend in 2008. It also has some information about visiting the San Diego zoo for those who are interested. Read the rest of this entry »

This is part 2 of 3 birthday weekend posts, and you just might come away with some ideas if you’re wondering what to do for a couple days in San Diego. After we attempted to camp in Carlsbad , we headed further south toward downtown SD to spend some time wandering around Balboa Park. Read the rest of this entry »

I missed last week’s smoothie of the week…I’m not sure what I was doing, but apparently I was too busy to post my newest smoothie creation. Well, here it is! I felt like something slightly sweet, very juicy, and deliciously creamy (not to mention healthy, right?). This peachy cream smoothie was just the ticket! Read the rest of this entry »

Wow, I have been lagging behind recently. I only gave you ONE recipe with cilantro after I highlighted it in my health and nutrition section! Well, here’s another one for ya. Who doesn’t like super tasty salad dressing that’s actually good for you? I’m sorry about the general terms for measuring ingredients. From now on, I vow to at least try to measure things, even when I’m just "messing around" in the kitchen with random ingredients. It would probably make this whole thing easier on us all. For now, here’s my best for the cilantro salad dressing (which is pretty quick and simple)! Read the rest of this entry »

This is part 1 of 3 posts sharing our 2008 birthday activities down in San Diego. Yay! It also shares some valuable and hard-to-come-by information about camping at South Carlsbad State Beach for those of you who are interested. Read the rest of this entry »

Mmmm, I love fresh salsa, and this is my new favorite. I love anything with cilantro, and this salsa has plenty of it. Maybe I should call this “Cilantro Mango Tomatillo Salsa”? Nah. Read the rest of this entry »