We celebrated our fourth Anniversary last week! We went to an Asian fusion restaurant called Xanh and the food was very delicious. We ordered four different dishes and shared them followed by a yummy hazelnut dessert. I can't believe four years have passed already. We just have so much fun together still.

Jonathan headed North to Oregon on Saturday and I'll be following him Thursday morning. He hasn't been out there since November, so he is getting to spend some quality time with his buddies. I have been getting ahead on my homework, with breaks for pool parties and lunch dates, so that I can fully enjoy the festivities of this coming weekend. My dearest friend Amber is getting married Saturday! I'm so excited to get to be a part of such a fantastic celebration. 

And we're back to studying. Jonathan started a new Advertising class on Monday. Since it is Summer semester, the class progresses at double the pace of a normal semester. So, instead of fifteen weeks, he will complete the class in seven weeks. Tomorrow, I will start a new Accounting class that is a double pace class that takes five weeks to complete. These next weeks will take a lot of discipline, but by doing a class each in the summer we will stay on track to both be done with this phase of school by the end of 2010. 


We still managed to squeeze in a lot of friend-time and pool-time this weekend though. And I read the book "The Call of the Wild" while Jonathan studied. I am trying to read books for fun in a series format. "The Call of the Wild" completes my Jack London series, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I'm hoping to take a trip out to Jack London Square in Oakland as a finale of sorts to my series.


For the fun-in-the-kitchen report, I got a set of popsicle molds as a fun summer treat to myself. I made two with coffee, shaved dark chocolate, a dash of coconut milk, and vanilla yogurt; and four with strawberries, nectarines, orange juice, and coconut milk blended in the blender. We taste-tested them today because it was boiling hot out and they were sooo good! I'm so excited to invent some new varieties this summer.

I completed my last assignment for my Accounting class last night! It feels like someone took a backpack full of bricks off my shoulders. In the past two weeks a quiz, two homework assignments, and a ten page paper have been assigned and due. Now I just have the final exam to take on Sunday. I stopped "reading for fun" this term because I knew I wouldn't read my Accounting book if there was a fun book waiting for me, so I am quite excited to start reading for fun again.


Jonathan graduated from his intern program on Friday night. There was a very fancy dinner in honor of the graduates. The program draws some great people and we were delighted to be able to dine with them.


Jonathan left Saturday morning for the youth group lake house retreat and gets back tonight. He seems to be having a great time and even got to drive the twelve passenger van. I think he was more excited about that assignment before the six hours of driving started :)


On Saturday, I met with my dear friend Sakura for brunch at a beautiful cafe in an old house in Redwood City that had four different "scone of the day" options. Talk about my kind of place! I spent Sunday afternoon and evening with friends swimming, watching the World Cup, and eating.


Summer is here!

What Shinobi does while I'm studying:

This weekend the window game began. The one where you fling the windows open and crank up the fans as soon as the sun goes behind the shady tree and eventually sinks below the horizon for the night.

But, when the temperature rises like this, the scent of jasmine begins to grace us with her presence as the daylight fades. One of my favorite scents in the whole wide world.

All the colorful fruits and vegetables (and peonies) of the season add such cheer!

This week I chose cheddar cauliflower for one of my CSA options. I love all things cheese so I couldn't resist. Jonathan is gone for a quick business trip so I had a lazy lady dinner (that didn't consist of cake and ice cream for once) while I did homework. I cut some carrots, zucchini, and cauliflower into bite size pieces, game them a quick saute in some coconut oil, and made a dipping sauce by whisking together peanut butter and soyaki. All this, plus the leftover challah bread I used for french toast for Brinner the other day and I was stuffed to perfection. And the cauliflower had a great creamy texture. If you see a yellow cauliflower at the store, buy it.

The weekend was spent splashing in the pool, some of the splashing was with the Shulls, and doing homework. We took on a nerdy organizing project, too. We just like being together.