monday. spokane family farm. LOCAL.

this is spokane family farm.

who knew? i certainly didn't. spokane has its very own dairy farm. the kind you think of when you just think the word, 'farm.'

complete with super-cute farm dog.


... and well-fed, lazy barn cat. milking cows, egg-laying chickens, little piggies, miniature donkeys ... even baby cows!

and to top off the $1 per person tour? amazing fresh-baked cookies (of course, the recipe is under lock-and-key!) and what could make the entire trip entirely worth the drive? ... the best milk EVER!


once thing's for sure ... being surrounded by all this fresh local produce and dairy is not helping my farm-obsession.

thursday. turkey piccata.

since our family tends to get most of our meat through our big, strong, hunter-men, i'm always looking for new recipes. and it's turkey season! the last year or so, we've pretty much canned every bit of turkey we have. it's amazing. my dad is genius for coming up with the recipe.

but, i ran across this little lovely talking to another hunter-man at work. try it out. feed it to your kids. share with the dogs. you'll all love it.

turkey piccata.

step one.
slice turkey breast about 3/8 inch thick, lengthwise, to make the biggest pieces possible—like a big pancake. you will end up with several slices. for kid-friendly sizing, slice the strips super-thin.

step two.
take each slice and pound out to about 1/2 original thickness. a ridged or multi-pointed pounder works best.

flour mixture (mix below ingredients):

60% flour
40% fresh grated parmesan cheese
minced garlic (the more the better, right?)
salt & pepper (to taste)

step three.
dump the flour mixture into a large ziploc™ bag and coat the turkey pieces heavily.

step four.
fry in a fairly hot skillet of 1/4 Cup olive oil for about ten minutes per side. let sit on several paper towels to de-grease!

step five.
cut into serving pieces and serve.

REALLY yummy with mashed taters and a salad!

p.s. i don't have pictures for this yet ... but the one above looks pretty darn close to how it ends up!

wednesday. lulu's vintage feature!

super-fun blogger over at Lulu's Vintage describes herself:

Hello, my name is Lulu and every weekday I write posts about which websites have the best selection of vintage, which ones are having sales, vintage expos, new fashions inspired by old fashions, celebrities spotted in vintage, etc...

she was kind enough to feature us over on her blog today for her monthly "style council." thanks lulu!

check it out!

p.s. i have some serious photo and topic weeding to do, but i'm gearing up to publish a blast of posts—stay tuned! vacation is officially over. *sigh.

wednesday. wintergirls.

definitely a teen book. now, if you're like me, you like to read teen fiction. wintergirls moved me in a way that teen fiction has not—in a long time. not in the fun, funny, fast, and easy read—way. but in the thoughtful, philosophical, contemplate the way things are—way.

laurie halse anderson takes two young girls, body image, and a scary and deadly reality, and combines them into a beautifully written piece of literature. the reality is not pretty. it's very scary—especially being the mommy to my own little girl. but it's real. the eating disorder thoughts of this girl struggling her way through her disease is uncomfortable. but, it's real. it is unlike any book i have read regarding this topic, and it's a book that all mothers should read.

beautifully heartwrenching. and again, i reiterate—the voice and thoughts in this book are so very frighteningly real.

my baby girl turns six.

she grew up on a side of the road.
where the church bells ring, and strong love grows.
she grew up good.
she grew up slow.
like american honey.

happy birthday to my favorite little girl in the whole world. you've gone from our strong 'little mini' miracle baby, to a strong, independent, smarty-pants, hilarious, goofy, and beautiful girl. you're perfect exactly the way you are.

thursday. madeline james photography. LOCAL.

since i've been a bit (or a lot) of a slacker this last week in the blog post department, i'm making up for it with two posts today ... and this particular post is a double-whammy.

as the second part of my email to title nine (see blog post below for ramblings), i explained how much i would love to grace the pages of their gloriously uber-fantasta-riffic catalog and neato-bandito website. once again, they do not accept attachments, and this blog is my path to weaseling my face in front of their awesome hiring crew.

the photos posted below also happen to be from the bestest photographers in spokane ... but i'm not biased or anything. the ladies over at madelinejamesphotography.com are so many things:

lovely.
nice.
stylish.
funny.
amazing.
happy doing what they do.



julie & arah's (yes, they're sisters!) use of natural light and angles, combined with an amazing sense of style ... it's the formula for magic, i tell you! and even better, they're local! get to em' before they get all fantastically famous!

tuesday. clementine.

my, oh my, it's been awhile! and we're getting ready for vacation and will be gone all next week, too! ... so i figured i need to post at least SOMETHING before we go! i'm still here though, and finding lots of things to write about, just no time to write!

clementine is a third grader ... who spends an awful lot of time in the principal's office. unlike several other series books that spend more time on writing humor than keeping values and morals in the forefront, clementine is very caring and always has good intentions—and doesn't sacrifice grammar for humor. she's a rambunctious one with lots of hare-brained ideas in her little head. she doesn't think before she acts, and though her heart is always in the right place, she rarely is.

quirky, fun, and perfect for little girls who have ideas go awry on a regular basis, no matter how hard they try!