fiona

In case it wasn't obvious, I kind of love my cat. A lot (maybe too much). We adopted her from the Ojai Valley Animal Shelter almost 3 years ago, when she was only a few months old. She grew from a shy, scrawny little creature into a big (14 pounds!) kitty who loves snuggling with me and attacking The Husband.

Fiona isn't very a good huntress. She has never successfully caught any sort of creature, not even a moth. Once, we watched her try to attack a tiny spider. She'd run at it, almost pounce, then wimp out and run away squealing in terror. This cycle repeated itself for almost an hour. The spider survived (easily).

We have to put vases of flowers (I always have flowers!) in places Fiona cannot reach, because she likes to chew the flower buds off of the stems.

Fiona loves to hang out in the bathroom sink while I'm putting on makeup. It's as annoying as you think it is.

Fiona also likes to jump in the bathtub as soon as you're done with your shower, or at least lurk between the shower curtains. It's as creepy as you think it is.

Fiona is good at fetch. If you throw a crumpled piece of paper, she will race after it and bring it back to you (or at least halfway back, depending on her mood).

Fiona doesn't have any sort of survival instincts or typical cat street smarts. When something scares her, she either falls on her back with her belly exposed (think fainting goat) or runs to her scratcher and hides her head underneath it. She thinks that if her head is hidden, she's safe, which puts her self-preservation instincts on par with a toddler's. 

Fiona is the most affectionate cat I have ever encountered. She loves to curl up on The Husband's lap or my shoulder. If she is sleeping next to me, she will reach out a paw to make sure she is touching me. Her happiest moments are when she can touch The Husband and I simultaneously while sleeping. She also likes to sleep on television remotes. It's weird.

Fiona likes to lay on a shelf between the kitchen and living room and swipe at anyone who walks by. Considering you have to squeeze by the shelf to get into the kitchen, she gets a lot of targets to hit. This makes The Husband really mad.

Whenever The Husband first gets out of bed in the morning, Fiona chases him and bites his feet while he tries to walk. He swears loudly at her throughout the process and I laugh. It's a good way (for me) to start the day.

Fiona is a complete nut and a bit more high-maintenance than your average cat, but we can't help but love her. She's been the queen of the house for the past three years, so we shall see what happens when baby girl arrives and knocks her off of her throne. Until then, we will keep enjoying her crazy ways. 

the best salad dressing + a really easy salad recipe

My wonderful mother-in-law moved to Santa Barbara a few months ago, and we've all done pretty well at getting together on a weekly basis. Right before we went to NYC, Emma invited us over for an early dinner. She lives in a gorgeous Victorian building with lovely wooden floors and tons of sunlight streaming through the huge bay windows.

At this dinner, Emma introduced us to the best salad dressing ever: Annie's Shiitake Sesame Dressing. It's organic, which is always a plus, though unfortunately there's no low sodium / low fat version. That being said, it's still a lot healthier than most dressings out there. Emma served it with roasted turnips, sesame seeds, avocado, mushrooms, and tofu, which was an amazing combination.

Baby girl seems to like it, too, considering the ninja-like kicks I've been feeling after dinner lately.

After the jump, check out a really simple salad recipe (can I even call it a recipe when it's this easy? Salad idea?) that goes wonderfully with this dressing.

things we love: grill baskets!

Have you ever used a grill basket? Someone gave us this one as a gift a while back, and we finally used it this past weekend. It was amazing!

The Husband has a tasty and incredibly easy kebab recipe (recipe after the jump), but we don't make it as often as we should since skewering everything takes some time and I don't like touching raw meat. Yes, I am a princess. The Husband reminds me of this every day. So we decided to bust out the grill basket and see what happens.

We love the basket because all we have to do was dump all the veggies and meat into the basket, stick on the grill, and let it cook. The basket has a very long handle so The Husband didn't get burned. It was also much easier to turn the basket and get everything flipped at once instead of turning each skewer and hoping you don't lose a mushroom in the process. That being said, we still lost some stuff. Next time, we will use it for cooking larger items, like corn or fish.

Check out The Husband's super lazy kebab recipe after the jump.

a one car family?

(oh how i wish i could cruise around in this baby)

The Husband and I are seriously considering selling my car and becoming a one-car family for the time being. I only use my car to drive to work and back; otherwise, I ride my bike or take Reed's car for long trips. And honestly, I really should be biking to work, too. Has anyone out there tried going from a two-car family to a one-car family? Was it amazing? A disaster? Any tips or advice for making this decision?

PS. Isn't the ABM photo app fun?

how to open up peony buds asap

(wow.)

So, it's kind of hot right now, no? If you are like us and don't have air conditioning (and a house that heats up like a furnace), you're hanging out at the beach a lot. However, the bright side of our crazy hot house is that the tightly-closed peonies I bought yesterday opened fully in less than 24 hours, and boy are they beautiful.

However, without surprisingly warm weather, peonies can be a bit stubborn and take their time opening. If you're putting them out for a party or wedding, you need those blooms on your schedule. All you have to do is fill a bowl deep enough to immerse the buds with warm / lukewarm (not hot) water. Immerse for 30 seconds (for buds that need to open in a couple hours) to 4 minutes (for buds that need to open 30 minutes from now). Arrange as desired, and watch those beauties open up in record time.

how to stop biting your nails

I'm 27 years old and I just stopped biting my nails in the past month. I know, I'm embarrassed that it went on this long, too. I've tried to stop biting my nails many times before, but it never lasted more than a day or so. The no-bite bitter nail formulas at the local drug store? They didn't even phase me. For some (weird) reason, the taste didn't bother me enough to deter me from biting. 

Until I found Bareille No Bite Pro Growth. 

This stuff is incredibly bitter and it really works. I tapped my fingernail on my lip absentmindedly and even that caused the bitter flavor to completely invade my mouth. This stuff does not mess around, and I highly recommend it for the most stubborn nail biters. The taste is so incredibly terrible that even raising my hand to my mouth would make me shudder in remembrance of the first (and only) time I tried to bite my nails with this stuff on.

After going two (TWO!) weeks without biting my nails, I rewarded myself with my first-ever manicure. The pretty nail polish helped me to continue not biting my nails. Once the polish started to chip, I started putting the Bareille stuff on again.

This is probably the most boring thing I have ever written, but I really can't express how grown up I feel now that I have abolished such a gross habit. My next goal: to figure out how to apply nail polish myself without the end result looking like I did it while completely hammered.