"Hell Hath No Fury Like a Woman Scorned" and boy do I feel SCORNED!!!

Dear girl,
We rented our home to you for the summer clean and nice, and you left it like a bull in a China shop. But let me just thank you for a few things that you thoughtfully left for us. Thank you for the the black disgusting mold on the caulk of our bathrooms and kitchen. Thanks for the shrimp tales surrounding the garbage. Thanks for the tomato (plus seeds) that were ground into the tile. Thanks for killing my plant. Thanks for the greasy face prints that were left on every window in the apartment. Thanks for leaving the kitchen floor more sticky than the floor of a dollar theater. Thanks for leaving beer caps all around the house, I've had a grand time finding them all. Thanks for using up every type of oil that I own, I'm sure that had we left our car, you would have siphoned the oil and gas out of that too. Thanks for leaving juicy rotten garlic in my wooden bowl. Thanks for my more than doubled electricity bill. You really have outdone yourself. You are the most disgusting person I've ever had to deal with. Thank you for showing me that having faith in humanity is futile. Feel free to come by and pick up your crap. I'll give you a knuckle sandwich for the drive home.

Sincerely, your disgruntled lessor,

Kate

Vintage Photo

Since we are driving across the country, I thought I would keep you entertained with a vintage photo. This is my little Bill (on the right) and some friend. While we were in Portland last week, he showed me his Star Trek costumes. He informed me that he is not embarrassed of his past, so since he isn't embarrassed, I decided to share it with you all. Enjoy!

Good Food Friday

Since it is still summer time, though not as hot here in Utah, I'm posting one more salad for the season. This salad is delectable and fresh (did I ever mention how much I like fresh) and it is worth trying, heck you should probably make if for your Labor Day celebration. So I present to you:
Salad with Sweet and Sour Poppy Seed Dressing

For the Salad:
Wash and tear romaine lettuce and fresh spinach. Mix and place on a plate. Layer on shredded mozzarella cheese, tomato wedges, sliced cucumber, red onion rings, fresh sliced mushrooms, cooked chicken cut into chunks, and avocado slices. Top with poppy seed dressing.

Dressing:
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cut sugar
2 Tlb chopped red onion
1 tsp dried mustard
1 tsp salt
1 cut oil
1 1/2 tablespoon poppy seed

Place vinegar, sugar, onion, mustard, and salt in blender. Mix until blended. On slow speed pour in oil, and poppy seeds. Wisk for a few seconds. Store in covered jar in refrigerator. Makes 1 1/2 cups dressing.

Try it, you'll like it!

Girls Trip 2008: DC Edition

The post you've all been waiting for, Girls Trip 2008. Okay, so maybe you don't care any more, or you never did care, but that is fine, because this is mostly for me, so deal with it. So I'll just narrate the trip with pictures, because.....it will probably be more interesting than every minute detail of the trip. So here we go.

Our first major stop on our road trip was to Overland Park, KS, my home sweet home. This folks, is where I was born and raised (at least the first 12 years). So we drove by the old house. When we lived there, everything seemed so much bigger, like the hill in the front, the back yard, the brick wall on the side of the house, the trees. But to my 24 year old eyes, nothing was as big as I remembered it.

Since we were there, we had to take a picture, even with the present owners home and lots of cars in the driveway. You'd do the same right?

Of course on a road trip, you have to sneak in a few pictures onto your sisters camera so she has a surprise when she downloads her photos. Too bad her lens was too big to get a full head shot.

Second stop of the trip: Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson. It was hot and muggy. My sister Marianne, and my mom.

Monticello in the flesh. It was pretty impressive, although his slave quarters were kind of shabby. This is the back of the house.

The front of Monticello.

Our ancestor, General John Bradstreet, seen at the National Portrait Gallery. Do you see the family resemblance?Waiting for the train, again it was hot and muggy.

We also took a trip to General George Washington's house, Mount Vernon. It was incredible. I think I liked it better than T. Jefferson. Well after touring both houses I've decided I like G. Washington better than T. Jefferson so I'm biased. The property was amazing, the house was fantastic, and who doesn't like Martha Washington. Oh yeah, and his slave quarters were much more humane. In the picture, Derek, Liz, Mom, Mari, and Me. (Derek wasn't on the road trip, he was at the final destination)

Aren't these pigs adorable. They were on the farm portion of Mount Vernon and boy did they squeal.

Washington tomb, quiet please!

While in D.C. we stopped at Derek's work which was right next to the White House, and snapped these pictures from the roof.

Another view of the White House.

Girls trip 2008 in front of the Capital building. If you were wondering what we looked like the last time we were here as a family, click here.

All together, the road trip was a success. I can't wait for the next girls trip - Girls trip 2010: Rome?!?!?!

Au Revoir Las Vegas

Goodbye Las Vegas, I'll be frank, I'm glad to be rid of you, but don't worry, there are some things I will miss about you. For instance, there was never a dull moment. So here are some pictures to remember the good times and the bad. You decide which is which.

Fremont StreetThe BellagioThe Court House

Home sweet home. Unfortunately, by the time I decided to take a picture of this gaudy sign, it was half burned out.

The locals

More locals

Fried Oreos at Mermaids

More fried Oreos.

Viva Las Vegas

*Disclaimer: There are nice areas of Las Vegas, but we didn't live in any of them, thus my pictures reflect the area we lived in. But these pictures will give you a PG-13 view of Las Vegas area near the strip.

California = Perfect Weather

Bill and I went to California this weekend to visit my brother and his family. They only live 4 hours away, how could we pass up a visit. So we set out on Friday night and did the following :Stopped in Baker to eat here. They Gyros were tasty.

Bill got his butt kicked by a 6 year old playing table tennis on the Xbox.

We went down to see the stars and we were lucky enough to see scary Micheal Jackson!

More stars!

Made a trip over to the tar pits of L.A. This is a prehistoric sloth of some sort. Nice hu?

Here is a Bill standing next to a tar pit that has filled with water, and behind him is a Wholly Mammoth running to it's death.

We also made it down to the beach. This is my brother and his family. They always have their Christmas picture taken down at the beach, and they are usually wearing about the same thing. They like to rub it in our face that California does have the most perfect weather year round.

Us, just in case you couldn't tell.

The sun was setting, it was perfect weather and there were little sand crabs everywhere, and....I like the beach. So here is another picture!

Bill is happy. He is smiling.........see?

Kate is happy, she is jumping for joy because of all the fun we were having! (my form is definitely as good if not better than Nastia's and Shawn's)

And finally, we saw a real celebrity (I like to look for stars besides on the sidewalks when we go to L.A.). We saw this Doctor with a famous zip code at church. Altogether, we had a great trip!

And for my last bit of news, we only have to deal with sweltering heat for 4 more days!!!!!!!!!!!!

To All Ye Soda Drinkers

I like soda so I drink Diet Coke. I like it mostly because it’s diet. Let’s be honest, diet is just something you have to get used to, and I’m used to it by now. I would gladly drink another diet soda if it were any good. Okay, Diet Dr. Pepper is pretty dang good, but most places don’t serve it. But wouldn’t it be great if Diet Sprite or Diet Root beer were actually bearable to drink. Or how about this, Diet Orange Fanta. That would be a dream come true. I love Orange Fanta. So now I'm curious about your soda drinking habits. Please take the following survey for me because I just have to know why you drink Diet Coke (or insert Pepsi if you like) and leave a comment with one of the following.

I drink Diet beverages because:
(A)-I love the artificial sweeteners in Diet sodas
(B)-there aren’t any other diet options
(C)-I don’t drink any diet sodas, I’m a purest
(D)-I need the buzz from a caffeinated beverage, and I don’t want to waste 140+ calories on non-diet.