Be on the lookout

I'm hoping that some time next week I will be able to send out our Moving Announcments (finally!). I ordered the cards last week from Kodak Gallery. So be checking your mailbox in the near future!

It took longer too because we were never satisfied with the photo that we had. We finally had to bust out the tripod and run back and forth across the street.

Spring has sprung!

After seeing the mommy hummingbird on her little nest, I was so curious about what was INSIDE the nest. So last weekend, we grabbed our little stool and took a peek!

Two little baby hummingbirds were in there waiting for their mom to come back with some food. They’re so cute…and growing bigger every day.

When I got home one day last week, I saw this little cool hanging out in the shade right outside of our back door.

Looks like I’ve turned into the wildlife paparazzi!

It’s fresh AND easy!

There’s a new local grocery-type store that has popped up recently called Fresh & Easy. I had heard people talking about it, but we went into it for the first time this past weekend.

They have a lot of fresh and pre-prepared items along with your basic grocery store items. I was a little disappointed with the amount of items they had in their produce section, but overall it was a very interesting shopping trip.

We bought some pre-sliced, pre-marinated chicken fajitas, some tilapia with a tomatillo salsa, an Italian chopped salad and a bowl of pad thai. We also bought a loaf of rosemary infused French bread.

The fajitas were tasty and quick to make since they were already prepared. The tilapia wasn’t bad (Cuong said he likes it better when I make it). I enjoyed the chopped salad, really yummy dressing. Cuong said he wouldn’t buy the pad thai again. The bread was really tasty. 50/50 isn’t that bad!

I did enjoy that everything did look pretty fresh. The way everything was packaged it made it all look very clean.

After you've completed your shopping you head over to the check out area. It's a self-check out, which cuts down on their overhead at the store.

Another good thing about Fresh & Easy is that for every $20 you spend, they give you a $5 off coupon for the following week. Very clever marketing….and you have to use the coupon by the end of the of following week!

One item that I needed to buy for this week’s dinner was fresh mint. The way it was packaged looked really nice. Plus, it’s grown locally in California!

With the fresh mint I was able to make the lemon-herb chicken that I had a recipe for.

Talk about Wildlife!!!

We’ve now been in the house for about 3 ½ months and we’re really enjoying it. We’ve been learning about the area and seeing a few things we were expecting to see.

Last weekend we were in the backyard cleaning up some of the landscaping and I kept noticing a hummingbird flying into a certain tree. After watching it for a while, I realized that the bird kept landing on the same branch. I got a little closer and saw that there was actually a nest on the branch! It’s too high to see into without a ladder, so I’m not sure how many eggs are in there.

How exciting! I really want to get a hummingbird feeder so we can enjoy them a little bit more. I’m actually surprised how many hummingbirds we see on a regular basis.
..

Now comes the part that gives me the hee-bee gee-bees!

Cuong was out in the front yard while I was inside cleaning up after dinner on Tuesday night. He sticks his head in the front door and says, “Babe! Come here!” He sounded excited, but a little panicked. I ran out front as fast as I could and then he says, “I just thought that you should be aware of what else is in our environment.” No, it wasn’t another snake! I look into the street and what do I see…. but a TARANTULA!!
It was so disgusting! I immediately got the chills…and then said… “Let me get my camera!!” So here you go…and yes, that is Cuong’s hand next to the spider in one of the pictures! Ick!!

This bad boy was crawling towards our side of the street, so needless to say, we flung him to the other side of the street. I don't want any tarantulas crawling in my yard!

My herb garden Update

My little herbs are still growing. I think I finally got some Rosemary seeds that will grow (fingers crossed!).

I think it's been getting a little too hot for them oustide though. The basil and mint are still outside, but I brought the dill and rosemary in.

Old Towne Orange

On Saturday we decided to explore more of the City of Orange. We headed out to Irvine Lake to see what it was like and how much it was to fish there. It’s off one of the roads where the fires were last year. You can see that some of the trees are still scorched.

We made our way in there and took a look around. They have a lagoon where little kids can fish. We actually saw a little girl catch one as we were standing there! They also have a huge lake. People can either launch their own boats, or you can rent one there. It’s purely a fishing lake, so no water skiing or anything. Maybe one day we’ll get out there.

After checking out the lake, we headed into Old Towne Orange (downtown). We hadn’t walked around down there since we moved in. It was full of antique stores, little restaurants and knick-knack stores. While we were walking along, we stopped in the “Antique Mall”. It was two stories and just FULL of all kinds of antiques. It was funny because they had a section of Pyrex platters and bowls….and my mom has some of the same ones! Who thought they would be antiques!? Believe it or not, I’ve been into my share of antique stores. My parents would stop in antique stores anywhere they saw one. They would find random ones while we were on road trips, and we would have to pull over.
Needless to say, Cuong and I didn’t buy anything.

By that time, we were getting hungry for lunch. We stopped at the Filling Station. It was my first time there, and Cuong’s first time for lunch. We both got a hamburger with French fries. It was pretty good. The atmosphere is really neat. It’s an old 1920’s gas station turned into a café. Everyone rants and raves about their breakfast (served all day). So we’ll have to stop in for breakfast next time. We sat outside under an umbrella. It was a nice sunny day and perfect for being outside, as long as you had some shade and a breeze.

There is still much more to see in the city and we plan on checking it all out as we go along.