Woohoo!

Economic stimulus checks are HERE!!!!! Steak dinner here we come! Oh, don't worry. I'll take pictures. You know I love taking pictures of our food. ;-)

Our Map and Blog Stalking

As many of you have on your blogs, we have a map that shows where on the globe people are viewing our blog from. It's really fun to see that people all over the country and even the world are looking at our measley little blog. When I click on our map it gives me a list of the places that have seen our blog and when they saw it.

I know who some of the people are who are checking out our site, such as Meg in Germany, Kayleigh in Ireland, Brit in Florida, Tara or Lis in Ogden, Utah, Jill in Minneapolis, Jen in Oregon, etc. But sometimes I get different ones that I don't recognize. Today, for instance, I have one in Phoenix and one in Portland. Phoenix might be my cousin Emily. I think she told me she moved there kinda recently. Portland might be my grandma, but I didn't think she was the blog-watching type. Maybe she is! Cool!

Then, there are some local ones that I don't know. I get Sacramento, Carmichael, and Rancho Cordova. The only person I can think of, off the top of my head in Carmichael would be Mia, but in Rancho or Sac I have no idea. I do get Orangevale and Citrus Heights, but those are no brainers. Well, I don't know who they are specifically, but we have tons of friends right around here, so those could be anyone.

How does it know where you are when you are looking at someone's blog? Is it based on your IP address or the location of your own blog, or maybe where your internet provider is based out of?

If you are reading our blog, don't be afraid to leave a comment! I'd love to hear from you! It's flattering to know that others are reading my silly little blog. I won't think you're weird for being a blog stalker or anything. I mean, hey! I'm a blog stalker too! There's nothing wrong with it! Why do you think I have links to everyone else's blogs on my blog? So that my readers can see who my friends are? Nope. It's so that I can more easily stalk everyone else! What do you think?? GOSH!

The Important Facts

Hello to all of you out there in Blogland! It's been a little while since I've posted an actual update on what's going on in our life. We've been so busy with work that sometimes it seems like nothing new is really going on with us, but in actuality there are a couple, minute updates.

Brett's into I think week 4 of his management training with Islands. We're really glad to be on a set salary rather than hoping that all of his tables during his serving shifts will be kind and tip appropriately. (Now we're just hoping that all MY tables during my serving shifts will be kind and tip appropriately! Good thing I have another job to rely on!) We're also enrolled with insurance benefits now, which is a relief. Contacts for blind Morgan and long-overdue dentist appointments here we come!

During the first two weeks of his training, he was training with the cooks, learning the ins and outs of the kitchen. He didn't mind it so much, but sometimes, when he would make a mistake with something, the cooks would laugh with each other about it and joke about him in Spanish, rather than helping him in English. That was a little irritating for him, but he pulled through it despite the lack of good English-speakers in the kitchen. He's really glad to be out of the kitchen and back into his Hawaiian luau shirts with the rest of the managers! He's more familiar with the front-of-house management, since he's been with the company for so long, so he's doing really well.

The procrastination of Monterey has begun, and it's not even me who's procrastinating! From what Brett and the other managers tell me, whenever Islands opens a new restaurant, it NEVER happens on schedule, usually because of construction issues with the contractors. Openings always get pushed back at least a few weeks, if not a few months. Well, it's already happened with the Monterey opening. It was supposed to open in August, which would mean that we would need to be in Monterey by at least the middle of July. We were really excited to trade some of the hot, Sacramento summer with a cooler, coastal summer. But alas, they have already pushed back the opening, and we don't know how far back. I really wouldn't be surprised if the store doesn't open until October, but we'll see. I guess it's really ok for now, since we haven't found a place to live yet, and we could use a little more time to save up. We'll be hearing more news soon, so we'll keep you posted.

In the mean time, I'm trying to develop a new hobby/talent. Stay tuned to find out what that hobby/talent is! :-)

Here are a few moments in the life of the Werners over the last few weeks:

I made dinner. Like, REAL dinner. Main dish and a side salad and drink. I'm a regular Martha Stewart.

I broke my first glass. It just fell off of the top of the fridge for no reason and shattered behind me while I cooked. I'm pretty sad about it.

We went to BJ's with Meggie and Jeff Dees for Meggie's birthday. This is Brett's bitter [root]beer face. He's such a lightweight. I can't take him anywhere.

Dinah is the cuddly one. Figuero has his moments, but mostly just when he wants to be fed. Typical male. Haha.

Figuero does NOT like it when we vacuum.

This just in from the Wilfley front:

Maddy has finally secured her esthitician license! She is now a professional esthitician! See some of her work on her blog here.

Ok, forget croissants, I never bought any yeast.

I'll go buy some yeast one of these days and then I'll show you how it turns out. Ok, enough about baking.

CHECK OUT THIS HOUSE!!! Actually, it's a bed and breakfast at a country club that Roof Doctors (my day job) did a real estate vendor fair at. This was the first thing that I saw when I drove into the country club. Instantly, my mind was spirited away to one of my favorite movies, "Under the Tuscan Sun." In that movie, the main character goes through a rough divorce and decides to go on vacation in Tuscany. While she's there, she finds a 300-year-old villa for sale, and decides, what the heck, just buy it and LIVE in fabulous Tuscany. So, she procedes to fix up this villa and make it into basically my dream house, in my dream location.

I'm actually torn between this type of house and an old, southern mansion style home, with the wrap-around porch and everything. Sometimes I even fantasize about a Spanish villa. But right now, I'm dreaming about this type of house. Can you imagine fixing up this baby?

I've looked into real estate in Tuscany just to see what homes like this go for. Believe it or not, they're not THAT expensive. Ok, for those of you in Utah looking at this blog, yeah, they're way more expensive than anything you see in the Salt Lake valley. But, compare them to an average home here in northern California, they're not outrageous. Especially considering the location and sheer FABULOUSNESS of the house. These homes never come without a good chunk of land, by the way. There are often olive orchards or vineyards on the properties, too, because, well, IT'S ITALY! I mean, there's a lot to be said about living in the great US of A, but who wouldn't want to live in the simplicity of Italy? Imagine the photography ops there! Someday I'll be a rich and famous photographer and I can afford to move my family to Europe. I bet my kids would love that. Ha.

For your viewing pleasure:

Tonight, I shall make croissants.

Stay tuned for the results.

MORE Vogue (If you can even handle that)

Here are a couple of the pictures after Sarah tweaked them a little bit.

This one isn't too much different. She mostly brightened it up, but you can see the difference if you look at it next to the original. There wasn't much that she needed to do, because she really nailed the composition of this one, if you as me.

This one just looks so dang cool with this vintage effect done to it.

Vogue (Beware, LOTS of pictures)

Here a "few" of my personal favorites. We took hundreds of pictures. Read the blog entry below this one for an explanation of what this is all about!

Morgan's Modeling Debut!

A few months ago, I found a photographer named Sarah. She was new to the area, and trying to get her photography business going. She was trying to find someone to do some bridal portraits for so she could put them on her website and have something to show prospective clients. Well, I told her that I'd been married for almost a year, but if she needs someone, I'd do it. I thought it would be a blast to get all done up and wear my dress again. Besides, I haven't had an artistic outlet in a while. I don't have a piano in my house anymore, I don't ever sew anymore, or take a lot of pictures, so I was starving for something to do with a finished product that I can look at and remember.

After many schedulings and postponings, we were finally able to meet with her last week to talk about the ideas that we had and where we wanted to go. Then yesterday, we went up to Auburn for all the old, crumbling gold-rush era buildings, and shot away! We found a little, dilapidated house that was all boarded up with no trespassing signs on it, but it had a front yard of beautiful, tall grass with wild daffodils and dandelions. That made for some good shots, as well as the long, brick wall in the alleyway that we started with. We ended the day in the middle of the street dodging cars. (Wait until you see those!)

My sister, Maddy, is a master esthetician, and did my makeup in a WWII era/pinup style for the first half of the day, and I attempted to do my hair, which I was amazed turned out as good as it did. It was such a blast! We got some amazing pictures, thanks to Sarah's AMAZING talent, and Maddy's flawless makeup. (I just stood or sat there and made a bunch of different faces and put my hands where they told me to!) Sarah's new super-camera put the icing on the cake. We did a couple makeup, jewelry, and shoe changes to add some variety to the shots. (Makeup by Maddy blog coming soon!)

I think I've found a new hobby! I really want to get into photography again. I used to love it in highschool. But, I eventually got frustrated with the developing and printing process, and I didn't like that I HAD to take pictures for a grade in a class. I wanted to just take pictures of whatever, whenever, and do whatever I wanted with the pictures. I really liked what I could do with the computer and learned a thing or two (literally) about Photoshop. I want to learn more about it, and make it a talent. Maybe in the future, if I'm any good at it, I can make a business out of it. I can work with Maddy and do portraits and weddings. I think I've found my niche. Needless to say, I'll be saving up for a nice camera.

Stay tuned for more pictures! Here's one for a peek at what's to come! This isn't even edited yet!