The Rest of July 2011

Wow, August. I can't believe how July just came and went. D and I didn't get to take the little mini vacation which we originally planned for the summer, particularly July. As I mentioned before, D has been working lots of overtime hours, so, except for seeing our family and some friends here and there, we stayed home during his free time for most of July. We did, however, take a day off from work to see the final installment of Harry Potter. I loved it, but I felt sad at the same time. Sad because I started watching these since the 1st movie came out and I always looked forward to the next one. Now, they are done. I won't spoil the ending, just in case someone hasn't seen it, but I will say that I was pretty happy with the movie. There were some scenes I felt should have been longer, while others should have been shorter or omitted. In comparison to the story told in the book, I think the film was a good "in-a-nutshell" adaptation. 

Also in July, we got the chance to sample some new (to us) food trucks. Dos Chinos, Short Stop BBQ, BaconMANia, Longboards Ice Cream, The Lime Truck, Rolling Sushi Van and Panfiniti. I may be missing one or two but these are the trucks that I remember off  the top of my head.

As for cooking at home, I'm quite proud of the fact that I was successful in keeping up the crock pot "routine" that I started in the beginning of July throughout the month. I plan to keep going on with this. So far the recipes I've used are pretty "tweakable" and I have adjusted them to our liking by omitting or adding ingredients to achieve the flavors we favor. At some point this month I want to try making some ribs in the crock pot. I will post the recipe if it works out.

This is what our tiny little kitchen is looking like these days.

As for the statue on the counter, that is a Tanuki, or Japanese Raccoon Dog. D's friend G brought him over all the way from Japan! I don't think I have ever seen one of these here in California.

Things that kept me laughing through July...

(K: thank you for this one.)

In July I also celebrated my 31st (yikes) birthday as well as my maternal grandmother's 82nd (yay!). We are about a week apart. As for being 31, I feel ok about it. I have plans for my 30's. Without getting ahead of myself, or opening my mouth too soon, we'll see how those plans develop...

I didn't get the chance to read much in July. Bummer, but I partially blame this..

I think I have spent too many hours rotting my brain playing this, but it's Alice, so I just had to play. D rented it for me via Gamefly. It brings back memories. I remember when the first version of this game came out it was for the computer platform only, which I hated. But again, it was Alice, so I bought it for my G4 MAC at the time. Not that I have oodles of time to spend playing video games, it's nice to be able to play this on D's PS3, here and there of course. I am almost done. Honestly, I wish the game was better. Visually, it looks cool and all, but the controls and the camera majorly suck.The levels, though they are cool to look at, seem to go on forever and I just want the get them over with. 

Well folks, summer isn't over yet! Let's see how much more I can get done for the rest of it.