A Fiery Combination

Here is another recipe that we just tried last night...  it was a combination of mango, cayanne pepper, jalapeno, and mexican crema.  I will call it a Spicyza Mangoza!!
              1. Put olive oil on the magos
              2. Put cayanne pepper on the mangos
              3. Grill the mangos about 2 minutes each side
              4. (Pick the jalapenos from your garden) Cut the jalapenos and sprinkle them on top
              5. Drizzle the Mexican crema on top
And wahhhhllllaaaaahhhh you have a very yummy (yet spicy) side dish!! It was really good...but extrememly spicy, so keep milk by you!!

This recipe is super duper easy...we had it with the mago side dish above and some brussel sprouts dowsed in cheese (the only way Mike will eat them).

I will call this recipe Pork a'la BBQ Sauce

1. Buy a Pork Roast and stick it in a crock pot.
2. Put one bottle of you favorite bbq sauce in the crock pot.
3. Add some cayanne pepper, jalapenos (home grown), onions (home grown), and garlic cloves.
4. Cover it and turn it on high for three hours, then turn it on low for two hours.

Its a super easy dinner to make and its really, really good!!!

Slip-n-Slide

Last week there was a blistering heat wave!! I think it was between 100-110 degrees for almost a week!! It was crazy!! Seeing as our neighbors have a pool and we could hear them having a grand old time jumping in the water, we became very jealous!! So Sam decided to take matters into her own hands and buy a slip-n-slide.  The best five dollar purchase ever!!! Nothing like becoming five years old again!!!

I feel like they go a lot faster than when we were younger... cause that little bumper at the end definitely did not stop us from flying off the end!!

Job Celebration

In honor of me finally finding a job (8 long months later) the girls and I went out to celebrate! In our usual fashion we went to sushi and then to a bar afterwards. We tried out this new place in downtown Livermore called Sushi Ya... it was good sushi, but extremely slow service! It was an entire night of new things... new sushi restaurant and new bar. The bar we went to was called The Livermore Saloon. It is a total dive bar that plays really good music. Although we walked in and everyone sitting at the bar turned to look at us, with not very nice looks, we decided to be bold and go in anyways. I am really glad we did because it turned out to be a great night!! The bartender was awesome and the people were super nice!! It was good to spend quality time with the girls... a much needed fun night out.  And after living here for six months we found our bar!!! Thank you Sam!!!

Now if you are wondering where Mike was during this time... he went to a Dave Mathews Band concert!! Which is really weird I know!! His direct quote at the end of the night when asked "How was the concert?" Mike replies,"Well, I didn't know any of the songs. Did you know there is a guy who plays the violin?" Ashley"Yeah I knew that, he has a solo in almost every song and is really really good!" Mike,"He was really good, but I had fun but I can't tell you whether the concert was good, but everyone else said it was."
Classic Mike, if its not rap he usually doesn't know what is happening...lol.

Here are some more pictures from that night...

Tori and I having a blast at the bar... we had A LOT of fun dancing!!! I can pop and lock like nobody's business!!! ;0)

Sam's Big 23rd Birthday

My roommate finally turned 23!! Yup you heard/read that right, she is only 23 years old!! For her big 2-3 we had a get together at our house.  We bbq'd some burgers and Kimmy made the most magnificent dessert you could ever dream of making: A cake, thats a pie, thats a cookie!! It is hard to explain but basically it is three great desserts rolled into one.  It was a fun day with the girls... Sam was so special that Gabby even came to the party, all the way from New York ;0)

On of the best things about Sma's birthday is that her boyfriend gives her lots of flowers, so it makes our house look and smell so nice!!

Here is Kimmy's cake... its no coincidence that Tori and I started a diet fairly soon after eating this!!

Home Grown Pizza

So with our new garden I wanted to start posting recipes that we have used with our garden fresh veggies.  I could be slightly inspired by my roommate's addiction to top chef, but things have actually turned out pretty good.  So here is the first one...

So we took red onions, tomatoes, and banana peppers from the garden and sliced them all up!
Then we got a Boboli pizza and mozzarella cheese and made a wonderful vegetarian pizza (so good that Mike even liked it).

We ate half of it before realizing that we hadn't taken a picture yet.  Anyways I realize this is not a complicated recipe, but I promise they will be getting tricky... wait till you see what I made tonight.  I don't want to say yet because we haven't tried it and if it turns out bad then no one will know about it ;0)

Tahoe Vacation

The above picture is awesome because we look like GIANTS!!! We of course missed our Kimmy, who couldn't come because she was in Virginia....boooo ;0)

A couple of weeks ago we were able to get away to the cabin for an entire week!! It was amazing to just sit and relax and basically do nothing for a whole seven days.  We were able to play tennis, horse shoes, roasted some marshmallows (s'more time) go crawdad fishing, and go to South Lake Tahoe to gamble.We timed it perfectly to meet up with Gabby and her family, so we were able to use the amenities at their luxurious hotel. Thanks Gabbles!! We also got to meet up with Tyler and Sara, which is always a good time (even though I couldn't use the slack line this time!!)Half way through the trip I got a call from UC Davis Medical Center wanting an interview for that Friday... let me tell you, getting ready for an interview while on vacation in Tahoe is pretty difficult.  Thank goodness for the hotel's business center because out cabin is not exactly up with the technology times! But I did well (all thanks to a lucky necklace!!) and I got the job!!! So I am going to be a pediatric ICU nurse!!! I am so excited!! All in all I think it was one of the best vacation!!

Debbi and Matt while we were playing horse shoes... and yes for those of you who have yet to see Deb's hair, it is really that short.  Doesn't it look amazing!!!

Graduation

Yes this did happen a while ago... but my dear friend Tori took forever to get me the pictures!!! ;0) Anyways in mid-June I finally got to walk with my nursing friends to get our degrees.  I am officially Mrs. Virginia Ashley Wood RN, BSN, PHN... yup that's a lot of letters...lol!!! Who would have thought!!  I could not have done it without all the support from my friends and family!! You guys are the best!! Thank you!! It took a team effort for me to get through nursing school and it looks that way on the job front too!! lol!!! Anyways here are some pictures from the special day...                      

My mom graduated the weekend before (although she didn't walk!!) from medical assistant school!!! YAY for Mama Shadd!!! And of course a thank you to my girls sitting there for so many hours in the blistering heat!! Your amazing!!

Thank you Mikey for putting up with me for the crabby two and a half years!! Your the best!!

Saki Bombs + Vampires= Amazing Night!!!

So believe it or not, but majority of the girls sitting at this table have never done saki bombs before (myself included). We decided to have a very "quiet" evening in a quaint sushi restaurant. Well lets just put it this way, they may have our pictures posted in the back, so we can never eat there again.  However, we did have tons of fun.  Needless to say we are all now pros at saki bombing!! (Oh the sushi was good too!!)

After our sushi extravaganza we WALKED (key word there) to the movie theater to watch Eclipse.  I do realize that the movie came out a long while ago, but the theater was still packed.  We showed up  slightly late, during the previews, but we were quiet sitting down.  However, the ladies sitting next to Sara and Jaybee decided to call security on us!! It was unreal!! Of course the security had nothing to tell us except for Sara to put her phone away.  Anyways the women sighed and gave us dirty looks through out the movie...very un-needed.

The movie was of course terrible...which was expected.  But it was a great night out with the girls!!

It's so FLUFFY!!!!

A couple of weeks ago, for our two year anniversary, Mike, Sam, Tweedy, and I went to see Despicable Me. Expectations were somewhat low, but it was so so so funny!! Mike says its his new favorite kid movie.  Which he actually has a good reference; the last three movies we went to see have been kid movies. Despicable Me, Toy Story 3, and How to Train Your Dragon. All three were excellent... can't wait till we actually have an excuse to go see these kids movies, so we don't look as weird. But I love this little girl!!! I wish she was a real human cause she is the cutest thing ever!!!