Superman

Another cousin creation. I love these kids.

Timeout

This is my cousin...she wanted to hide up there for hide and seek...so my older cousin took it as an opportunity to make us all laugh. Classic.

Rain, rain, rain.

Agree or disagree? Santa Barbarans lose all driving sanity and common sense when the rain starts to fall. Agree.
Agree or disagree? True Santa Barbarans don't use umbrellas. We just run for it. Agree.
Agree or disagree? Rain is wonderful because everyone wants to talk about the weather all the time anyways. Agree.
Agree or disagree? All the cool kids have rainboots. Disagree...and agree. Jordan doesn't have rainboots...but I do.
Agree or disagree? Coffee shops are more endearing when it rains. Agree.
Agree or disagree? Wet shoes and wet feet are some of the worst things. Agree...and yet I have seen 3 people running in the pouring rain so far today, so obviously this isn't a universal agreement.

There are two types of people in this world: those who love the rain and those who hate it.
I love the rain.
Today, as I was driving (with all the Santa Barbarans who can't drive) to an endearing coffee shop while wearing my rain boots, I was smiling the goofiest little grin because the rain is incredible! When it pours, it is beautiful. And then, without warning, it will just stop, a slice of blue sky will appear, the sun says "hello", and those who hate the rain sigh with relief...I, on the other hand, politely ask the sun to go away for a little while longer so we can have our beautiful green mountains back and enjoy a little more of the blustery storm.

The best of 805.

I say this often, but I don't think that I say it often enough. I am so incredibly blessed to live in Goleta/Santa Barbara and call this city home.

I have done nothing to deserve this beautiful place, but this is where God has chosen to place me and I am so lucky. Francis Chan reminded me in his book Crazy Love that I need to remember, on a daily basis, how great God is...and I need to praise Him for his greatness. I know that He is great, holy, perfect, Creator, but days go by when I get caught up in life and forget to meditate on this greatness. He is so good. His love is so good. His grace and mercy are so good. His creation is so good.

Kip

Kip (kip) n.
The untanned hide of a small or young animal, such as a calf.

Kip (kip) chiefly British slang - n.
A rooming house.
A bed or a room in a rooming house.
A bed.
Sleep.

Kip (kip) n.
A 1,000 pound unit of weight.

Kipper (kip'er) n.
A male salmon or sea trout in the spawning season.
A split, salted, and smoked herring.

-pered, -pering, -pers
To cure (fish) by splitting, salting, and smoking.

My nickname defined.
My favorite? The 1,000 pound unit of weight. Yep, that's me.

PERSIMMONS...

I could attempt to eat persimmons by the dozen (I really like them), but I would rather NOT turn my skin orange so I turn to baking. These cookies are pretty fabulous.

Persimmon Cookies
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 stick butter, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
3/4 cup persimmon puree
2 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp. cinnamon (generous, as always)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda

Cream sugar, butter, vanilla, and eggs. Add persimmon puree and stir until combined.
Sift dry ingredients together in a small bowl. Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, slowly, about one third at a time. Mix until flour is just incorporated.
Lay out plastic wrap on a smooth surface. Place dough on the plastic wrap, creating a long cylindrical log. Wrap the dough completely with the plastic wrap and freeze for a few hours until frozen or almost frozen.
Remove dough from the freezer and, using a serrated knife, cut 1/4" thick rounds. Place cookie dough rounds on a cookie sheet and bake at 375 for 10-14 minutes (depending on thickness of cookie dough) until cookies spring back when lightly touched.

When cookies have cooled, frost with the following powdered sugar/persimmon glaze:
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbsp. milk
1 Tbsp. persimmon puree

Cookies and ice cream for lunch? Yes, please!

I am not a big lunch person. Don't get me wrong, I definitely could never skip this midday meal, but it isn't my favorite of the daily meals.
If I had to rank them it would be: breakfast, dinner, lunch. If I could, I would even throw dessert in there...and it would be #1. :)
But today I was stoked for lunch because, to be honest, it was dessert.
My best friend went to CO for a bit and I picked her up from LAX this morning. I was happy to pick her up because I love spending time (especially road tripping time) with her...and her bribe of cookie-wiches for lunch didn't hurt either. Cookies for lunch? Yep, I have to confess that today, for the first time in my life, I ate dessert for lunch. I felt like a kid.
On more than one occasion she has raved about Diddy Riese. Cheap and fabulous cookie sandwiches. Naturally, we had to venture to this place because I was tired of hearing about it without TASTING it!

After leaving LAX we confidently headed to find this "DD Reese". Or was it "Dee Dee Reese"? Or "Di Di Reece"? Our poor Garmin navigation could not find anything of the sort BUT we were determined to find the place so I called my dad, got the exact address, and SUCCESS. Diddy Riese.

Is it all it was talked up to be?
ABSOLUTELY.
No question.
For $5, we got two chocolate chip cookie/espresso ice cream sandwiches and 6 cookies to take home. Eating cookie-wiches in our parking space right in front of Diddy Riese, exhausted from L.A. crazed driving, content to be in each others' company once again...priceless.