Linoleum vs Vinyl - Who Knew?

I Googled linoleum flooring after getting the "okay" from our realtor that this was a suitable substitute for ceramic or stone in the kitchen.  "In fact, " he said "I've seen many cases where people thought that it was actual stone"

Okay, what came up on my internet search did NOT look anything like stone or ceramic tile.  However, I did find plenty of vinyl options that did.  Which got me wondering....what is linoleum?

Another Google search landed me with more info on linoleum vs. vinyl

Surprisingly, linoleum is making a comeback as an eco-friendly (and wallet friendly) building material! You learn something new every day.  I still think it's ugly though :(

Discovering Ed Levin Park

This year has been a little hectic, so I wasn't really able to plan a huge blowout birthday for Roger.  We settled on a BBQ at Ed Levin County Park, in Milpitas, CA.  We'd never made use of the park, even though it's right by the ranch where we keep our horse!


The place is actually really great!  There's plenty of picnic/bbq areas to go around (so really, no need for a reservation), playgrounds, a lake (which is stocked with fish at certain times of the year), and there's even an off-leash dog park.  We set up near the Sandy Wool Lake Group Area.  Lucky for us, there was a big Renaissance Faire deal going right by our site ;)

Apparently, you can also hang glide, if you're into that sort of thing, and you can ride your horse through the trails.  No, I haven't taken our horse out there yet...because I'm chicken...but hopefully one day *sigh*.

All in all, a fun place to spend a nice day.  Ooooh!  AND, while searching for web images of Ed Levin Park, I found this website: Bay Area Back Pages. Looks handy.

Here's a chuckle for you

I got a good laugh from this post & thought I'd share, PoppyBrew - Ignorant About Macaroons .  I don't know what these things actually are, but during our wedding planning, Roger told me we would absolutely not be serving those pink [female body parts] on the menu!

House Update

When we bought this house, we knew we wanted to take out the wall that divides the living room from the kitchen.  We saw a neighbor do it to his same-style house, and loved the results!  It took us a while to get up the courage to attack the wall though, because it leaves us with very little wall space in the kitchen...don't worry, we have plans to improve that!

We already knew this was a load-bearing wall, so after a friendly neighbor helped Roger gut the wall, we hired a contractor to put a solid support beam recessed into the ceiling.  Recessing the beam will allow us to have a smooth ceiling transition into the kitchen.  We still have all the finishing to do.

Here's a link to the pictures of us tearing down the wall.

Homemade pizza weekend in Carmel

Roger and I go to Monterey/Carmel a LOT...well, not as much as we used to, but still, a LOT.  Mostly because he grew up there (lucky bum!).

Most recently, we took a weekend trip down to visit our friends, Lynn Lupetti and Ed Lohmann, some of the most interesting and beautiful people you'll ever know...if you know them!!  Since these two were the inspiration behind adding a pizza stone to our wedding registry, we begged them to host a homemade pizza dinner for us.

Ingredients:  Pizza dough, goat cheese, mozzarella, parmesan cheese, an assortment of veggies (including potato), basil, presciutto, and anything else your heart desires.

Results:  DELICIOUS!!!!

Okay, not fair, the rest of you can't go to Lynn and Ed's for homemade pizza.  Well, if you want dinner in the area, let me recommend The Monterey Fish House....it's the shizz.


We've also added Salinas to the mix lately.  Why???? Because of friends - duh.  Stay tuned for some exciting Salinas action...i.e. Airshow, possibly?

Ronin got a bath

We went to the ranch to spend some quality time with Ronin, our horse, this morning.  I love mornings at the ranch because you feel like you have all day to play.  Since I wasn't feeling good (I barfed up the bag of Cheet-O's I ate for breakfast on the drive up), today was a going-easy day and since the weather is warm and gorgeous right now, what better time for a bath! 

Our horse is out in pasture, so he gets pretty dirty.  Roger lathered Ronin up all good and I sponged his face.  He's got ants in his pants lately so he wouldn't stand still for any of it, but he came out a handsome horse!

Love it.  Wish I had some pics but I don't so here's a pic of Ronin last summer

Babies R Us = Overwhelming

I don't know about the rest of you, but I thoroughly disliked creating our wedding registry.  Too many life altering decisions to make; Denby dishes or Tin Alley? Ivory towels or white? or green? Giant fork and spoon or funny looking knife?...aaaaaaargh. 

Just when I thought the worst was over, enter....baby registry.  OH MY GOSH!  My brain is mush with all the fricking choices!  Not to mention the "safety" rules of right now, which I'm sure will be the totally wrong old-fashioned rules of tomorrow.  I can't tell you how long it took me to pick a stroller...and I'm still not 100% sure.

Thank goodness for our super cool neighbors and their hand-me-downs, which have allowed me not to worry about what cribs are being recalled this season.

Oh, and another thing, they really need to put cafe inside every Babies R Us.  Expecting mothers need to fuel their shopping!

I did get to make use of the special parking space though :) 

Welcome to the show

We're a young couple living in San Jose, CA.  We're the proud parents of a parrot (Buddy), a dog (Domino), and a horse (Ronin).  We just bought our first house, in the most awesome neighborhood, and we're expecting a little baby boy in December :) 

We tend to take on more than we can chew...and then figure out how we're gonna make it work. Such are our lives and our adventures, and we like it that way.

Enjoy!